Grizzly Man

Grizzly Man documents the life and death of a man named Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell spends summers in Alaska, in a tent on Grizzly bear territory. He camps out by himself and films the entire expedition. Not all of his footage was used in the documentary though, a director named Werner Herzog edited the footage, interviewed people who knew Treadwell as well as bear experts, and narrated the film. At times in his narration, Herzog seems disgusted by Treadwell's words and actions. I understand Herzog's dislike of Treadwell and his beliefs because Treadwell is a rollercoaster of emotions. On the other hand, Treadwell explains that he has been excluded from society his whole life. He feels unaccepted by other humans, so he turned to bears. Even though Treadwell seems like a complete lunatic, and partially he is, he is also accepted by the bears that he loves. He talks to them and uses his body language to show them that he is their friend, and not their dinner. The part of Grizzly Man that I find the most enjoyable is Treadwell's friendship with the foxes. The saddest part of the film is not Treadwell's death, (which seems appropriate, and what Treadwell wished for) but the ironic turn in fate when the rescue search team looking for Treadwell and his girlfriend shoot and gut the bear that ate them. Treadwell would not have wanted his presence in "bear country" to have harmed his animal friends in any way. This film made me think a lot about human-animal relationships, life and death in the natural world, and the phrase "he got what was coming to him."