Grizzly Man is a 2005 documentary directed by Werner Herzog about Timothy Treadwell, a man who spent 13 summers living with grizzly bears only to be eaten along with his girl friend by the bears he cared for so much. Werner Herzog uses a mixture of interviews, his own footage and the footage of Timothy Treadwell himself who filmed himself to educate school children of America about the Alaskan Peninsular and the animals he interacts with, whether they be fox's or grizzly bears. A stunning character portrait is formed showing Timothy the "grizzly man" as a nature loving, frustrated eccentric whose videos "take on the quality of a confessional" showing how "the actor in his film (himself, his created persona) has taken over the film maker".
The film plays with several "modes" of documentary cinema as defined by Bill Nichols in
Introduction to Documentary (2001) it does this through the several "levels" of film making. Firstly and a whole the film is reflexive, through Timothy's documentary Herzog analyses the medium of documentary itself and shows how what Timothy presented as nature documentary can have a different meaning when looked at in a different context and as Herzog puts it "it is not so much a look at wild nature as it is an insight into ourselves and our nature." Through the images Timothy would how us we also get a sense of the observational mode, the classic nature documentary, that with rough and improvisational camera work gives us an insight into the lives of the grizzly bears. Through the interviews and Herzog's interaction with the family and friends of Timothy we get a sense of the participatory mode, Herzog seems to gain a compelling personal connection with Timothy and his friends, most notably after listening to the audio recording of Timothy's death when he pleads with Jewel Palovak, a woman described by Herzog as Timothy's "widow", never to listen to the tape. Through the sections that Herzog shows us, perhaps the parts Timothy would not have deemed useful we get a beautifully poetic documentary, as Herzog says the camera tends to "linger" and captures beautiful images and some beautiful incorrect tapes showing the inner character of Timothy Treadwell. There is another further reading into the film that explores Herzog himself, which Mode this fist into is unclear, possibly reflexive possibly performative however though Timothy's character and Herzog's treatment of him we get a picture, a portrait of Herzog himself, I would go as far as to say that if looked at closely enough
Grizzly Man is a film as much about Timothy Treadwell, an eccentric film maker, willing to do anything to get his message across, methodical, emotional and driven as Herzog himself, also a driven film maker whose emotion comes across in this film.
One of the central ideas put across by Nichols, although it is fairly obvious, is that most documentaries have an aim or a point, "they work to convince us one view point is preferable to the other" (Nichols
2001) however the view point Herzog is trying to put across in
Grizzly Man is somewhat unclear, at least on a simple negative or positive scale. Herzog never shies away from the brutality of Timothy's death, we hear many accounts of what the scene looked like, Herzog himself says "what haunts me, is that in all the faces of all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed, I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy", all of this depiction shows Timothy as playing with danger for no reward. However this isn't the only representation of Timothy throughout the film, he is also shown as a passionate eccentric who truly believed in his quest to protect the relatively safe bears. The pleasure he gains from his life with the bears is clear, his friends all believe in what he did, you get an overall sense throughout the film that the 13 summers he had were worth his life, without the bears he wouldn't have wanted to live. This is a cleverly constructed image partly from Timothy himself who crafted his new persona after a failed acting career and alcohol abuse and party by Herzog himself who shows Timothy's passion through light and dark times, from ecstatic happiness to fury and all in between. I believe when you view this as part of a larger number of films about similar characters by Herzog the "case" becomes that passion, striving to do something you love no matter how difficult, is worth it, Timothy paid the ultimate price but lived the ultimate life. His obsessive qualities are not a bad thing, maybe his passion was misplaced but there is nothing wrong with passion.
One of the most captivating scenes, the "participatory scene", is when Herzog listens to the tape of Timothy's death to decide whether to include it or not. At first he narrates what he hears, then falls silent before asking Jewel to turn the tape off. This ethical decision is part of what happens in all documentaries, it must have happened with many of the things said and shown by the coroner, all of which are harrowing and graphic enough, but the inclusion of this ethical decision adds a gravity to the situation, as an insider, exploring with Herzog that is the point in which Timothy's death becomes a real undramatised event not to be exploited by the film, it makes the decision known, the audience are therefore not unsatisfied when they realise his death deserves some privacy.
Grizzly Man is a pretty basic "I talk about them to you" (Nichols 2001) kind of documentary, it uses the character of Herzog as a film maker to explore Timothy's life and choices. The I talk about them to you relationship that the film uses mimics Timothy's own documentaries in a parallel that works hauntingly well, highlighting the "Grizzly" in the man, a subject, somewhat alien to the audience, somewhat animal, yet insightful and identifiable, an appropriate link between Grizzly and audience. This is extremely important however the most identifiable person in the film is Herzog himself, we feel as though we are discovering Timothy with him, and learning what he has learned. There is a large question in my mind of how much of the "persona" of Timothy's on screen presence was real, although there is little reason to doubt it we know that for the last trip at least he lied about being alone, he was with his girl friend, this adds a sense of doubt, maybe Timothy was a different person when the camera wasn't rolling. Admittedly there is a large amount of footage from "between the takes", footage that Timothy wouldn't have wanted us to see so why would he continue to act? It is also possible that he does act differently, the continuation of the character is only occasional, if so Herzog wouldn't have wanted to show this, it would work against his depiction of Timothy as a passion driven warrior.
Grizzly Man is a heavily constructed exploration inside a heavily constructed exploration, it works on many levels and simply leaves the audience with a melencholy joy for the passion Timothy possessed and ultimate sadness for his death. Herzog has crafted an emotional termoil within the audience and questions us all about how far we would go for our passions. The visually and emotionally stunning film offers and interesting insight into the life of an eccentric, the life of a film maker and the life of an obsessive. It is a clear success, gripping and heartwarming.
8.5/10
Bibliography
1. Grizzly Man (2005), Herzog W., USA, Lions Gate Films
2. Nichols. (2001). Why are ethical issues central to documentary film making . In: Introduction to documentary. usa: Indiana University Press. p1-19.
3. Nichols B. (2001). How do documentaries differ from other types of film. In: Introduction to documentary. usa: Indiana University Press. p20-41.
