Cynics Unlimited

Title: Grizzly Man
Release: 2005
Genre: Documentary
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Studio/Publisher: Lions Gate
Rating: 85%

A couple of years ago my brother told me of a man who had lived among grizzly bears in Alaska and was later killed by one. This man had apparently thought that grizzlies could be tamed and taught not to attack humans. Evidently he was wrong. I then vaguely remembered seeing a magazine article with a photograph of a man standing face to face with a large bear. Though I didn’t connect the picture with my brother’s story at first, they came together for me with the recent release of the documentary Grizzly Man.

The title character of the film refers to Timothy Treadwell, a self-described bear expert and freelance environmentalist who spent time with the grizzlies of Alaska’s Katmai National Park for thirteen summers in a row. In October 2003, he, along with his latest girlfriend Amie Huguenard, was fatally mauled by a hungry bear.

Directed and narrated by veteran German filmmaker Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man includes footage Treadwell took of himself, the park, and the animals there - mostly bears, but foxes too - as well as interviews with people who knew him, such as his parents, an ex-girlfriend, and friends of both sexes. There is even a clip of Treadwell being interviewed by David Letterman.

The scenes from Katmai Park are so breathtakingly beautiful that it is almost worth seeing the movie just for them. The bears are another story. When the first shot of Treadwell standing unarmed (he never took bear spray, let alone weapons, on his visits) in the middle of the park with the bears came on, I felt scared, as if it were me there. I then relaxed, though, on watching him get up close to the bears, talk to them, and touch their noses. He treats the foxes almost like dogs: he pets them, has them lie at his feet and so on. The fox cubs pictured are adorable. Grizzly Man is obviously a fascinating film for people interested in wildlife.

We also learn about Tim Treadwell’s life. He was born in New Jersey to a middle-class American family. His parents describe his childhood as normal. They note he always loved animals. Though he received a swimming scholarship to a college, he eventually dropped out of school and moved to Malibu, California.

A darker side of Treadwell later emerges, however. After trying out but failing to get the role of the bartender in the TV series Cheers [note: some sources say Treadwell’s claim to have auditioned for Cheers was not true; see my note on his habit of stretching the truth], he went on a downward spiral. He began drinking excessively, taking drugs, and became very depressed. A former girlfriend of his mentions that he fell in with dangerous people. He also refused the medication his doctor prescribed for depression.
Nevertheless, Treadwell managed to overcome his alcoholism and drug addiction. He made a promise to the bears that he would give up drinking and devote his life to them, and so began his journey to Alaska every summer for the next thirteen years.
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