GRIZZLY MAN
Directed by: Werner Herzog.
Produced by: Erik Nelson.
Director of Photography: Peter Zeitlinger.
Edited by: Joe Bini.
Music by: Richard Thompson.
Released by: Lions Gate.
Country of Origin: USA. 103 min. Rated: R.

A sensitively made documentary, Grizzly Man is more a mystery than a recounting of the life and death of a self-anointed Francis of Assisi. The movie holds the same intriguing and absorbing appeal as John Krakauer's non-fiction bestseller Into the Wild, in which a promising college graduate abandoned his possessions and hitchhiked to Alaska (perhaps today's idea of unspoiled Utopia) to live alone in the wilderness. He died four months later.

After spending 13 summers living among grizzly bears in the Alaskan wilderness, Timothy Treadwell was killed and eaten by a grizzly in September 2003. Killed by his side was his girlfriend Amie Huguenard. Treadwell's own videotaped diaries (five years worth) provide many clues as to why he would cut himself off from civilization to become, in the words of a biologist, a bear.

Almost immediately director Werner Herzog breaks the film's initial and barely tolerable tension when the local coroner relays Treadwell and Huguenard's last moments. Although very clinical in his descriptions, his voice trembles with emotion. Only a photo of the slain killer bear is somewhat graphic. The deaths were recorded - but just the audio; the attack happened too suddenly to remove the lens cap. Herzog listens to the tape on headphones (making them thankfully inaudible) with one of Treadwell's ex-girlfriends by his side. She was given the tape by the police. He sagely advises her to destroy it - otherwise it would always be the “pink elephant in the room.” Herzog's investigation is methodical and thoughtful, justifying his interjections. He knows when to say when, letting most of Treadwell's friends and family, and most of all, the video footage speak for themselves.

For Treadwell, his camera is both a confessional and an excuse for a star turn as a "kind warrior" with a blond Prince Valiant haircut ("I'm the only protection for these animals"). In the first video excerpt, Treadwell affirms to the camera, "If I show weakness, if I retreat, I might be killed." For Herzog, Treadwell's death is not ironic but more the result of naiveté by someone who sentimentalized nature. In a sing-song voice that mimics Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Carson Kressley, Treadwell tearfully thanks a fox for being his friend, and in another moment, gleefully touches bear excrement in awe ("It's Wendy's poop!") And out of the blue, he confides how easily gay men can have sex - all they need is a truck stop - while he has trouble convincing women to rough it with him. His girlfriend barely figures in his footage.

Treadwell had plenty of detractors ("Bears thought he was mentally retarded") as well as defenders, including, at times, Herzog, which is no wonder: the footage Treadwell captured of his bear companions up close is spectacular, including one ferocious, fur-flying smackdown between two male bears, leaving no doubt about their violent nature. Kent Turner
August 12, 2005