The Man Who Lived with Grizzlies
“I would never, ever kill a bear in defense of my own life - would not go into a bear’s home and kill a bear.” These were the words of Timothy Treadwell, the main character of the documentary film, Grizzly Man. Directed by Werner Herzog and released on August 12, 2005, Grizzly Man stitches together video footage taken by Treadwell over five years that he spent living among the grizzly bears of Kodiak Island in Alaska to tell a mesmerizing story. Using interviews of people close to Treadwell and Herzog’s narration, the film reveals Treadwell to be not a mentally deranged lunatic, but a passionate, remarkable human being worthy of the audience’s exploration. Grizzly Man effectively translates a cruel punchline
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Herzog shows clips of Treadwell ranting in response to perceived intruders of his self-proclaimed “Grizzly Sanctuary” and displays Treadwell’s paranoia towards people who Timothy believed were threatening harm to his beloved bears and him. The director shows that Treadwell views himself as a savior and protector of the bears, which appeared to border on mania. Herzog uses other clips to reveal Treadwell’s state of mind, such as clips of Treadwell’s emotional overreaction to a bumblebee that he believed was dead, his clutching a childhood toy bear at his campsite, and his becoming euphoric at touching bear excrement that only moments before had been inside a beloved bear. Narrating one clip about Treadwell touching the detached paw of a mauled bear cub, Herzog gives his opinion about that event that had punctured Treadwell’s romantic fantasies about nature’s harmony by saying, “I believe the common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder.” The video selections and narration from Herzog reveal to the audience Treadwell’s complex and unstable state of