I rented the DVD of the new documentary "Grizzly Man" by Werner Herzog last weekend - Holy smokes!

I'll try to avoid spoilers (although the fate of the subject of the documentary is pretty well known, and was the subject of a 20/20 episode using part of this documentary), but jeez, this is an amazing look at a one-of-a-kind character. Timothy Treadwell spent summers living in a grizzly bear preserve in Alaska, despite an apparent lack of knowledge of the dangers they represented, and became known as a regional legend for his school and documentary appearances on behalf of the bears. As the documentary reveals, Treadwell was going rapidly insane out there, and as he recorded hours and hours of himself talking to the camera, he became increasingly paranoid and bizarre. Treadwell himself wasn't your normal bearded woodland recluse - his flamboyant manner and style of speaking was closer to Carson Kressley of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" than Grizzly Adams, and his taped outbursts are counterpointed by the very Teutonicly grim voice-overs by Herzog, who knows a thing or two about people going insane in the wilderness. An amazing character study.

Fascinating film, and a sort of real-life horror story.

It was just released on DVD. Has anyone else seen this?

I rented the DVD of the new documentary "Grizzly Man" by Werner Herzog last weekend - Holy smokes!

I'll try to avoid spoilers (although the fate of the subject of the documentary is pretty well known, and was the subject of a 20/20 episode using part of this documentary), but jeez, this is an amazing look at a one-of-a-kind character. Timothy Treadwell spent summers living in a grizzly bear preserve in Alaska, despite an apparent lack of knowledge of the dangers they represented, and became known as a regional legend for his school and documentary appearances on behalf of the bears. As the documentary reveals, Treadwell was going rapidly insane out there, and as he recorded hours and hours of himself talking to the camera, he became increasingly paranoid and bizarre. Treadwell himself wasn't your normal bearded woodland recluse - his flamboyant manner and style of speaking was closer to Carson Kressley of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" than Grizzly Adams, and his taped outbursts are counterpointed by the very Teutonicly grim voice-overs by Herzog, who knows a thing or two about people going insane in the wilderness. An amazing character study.

Fascinating film, and a sort of real-life horror story.

It was just released on DVD. Has anyone else seen this?

I haven't seen this but know this guys story very well. Thanks for the post, gonna go add this to my Netflix queue if they have it.

Call me a gore-hound, but I wanna 'see' the footage of those fateful last seconds. Man, there is something truly debasing about being eaten to death.

I watched this last week. Very intersting documentary. I agree on his personality - very eccentric. His rant on the forest rangers was eerie. The guy was in his own little world.

I was left with a question though - What if one of the bears that was familiar with him was around when the rogue came calling? Would he still be alive or become just another battle over a fresh kill? The true test of his ability to be accepted by his wild "friends".

P.S. I was also glad that the audio of the attack was not played for the camera. The mental image was enough.

I watched this last week. Very intersting documentary. I agree on his personality - very eccentric. His rant on the forest rangers was eerie. The guy was in his own little world.

I was left with a question though - What if one of the bears that was familiar with him was around when the rogue came calling? Would he still be alive or become just another battle over a fresh kill? The true test of his ability to be accepted by his wild "friends".

P.S. I was also glad that the audio of the attack was not played for the camera. The mental image was enough.

I thought that same thing, Sam - the bear that attacked was a rogue bear that wasn't a "local". I wonder if the ones who accepted him would defend him.

I seem to recall they played part of the audio of the attack during the 20/20 story - pretty gruesome.