GRIZZLY MAN - on The Discovery Channel
Wow. How can I sum up this movie in just a few paragraphs...Werner Herzog's award-winning documentary about the life of self-proclaimed eco-warrior, bear-protector, and arguably not-quite-sane risk-taker Timothy Treadwell is a tour-de-force of thrilling, head-shaking, beautiful, and often unnerving filmmaking that is a must-see for all.
Over half of the footage used in the documentary was taken by bear-lover Treadwell himself over the last five summers of his life, as he lived among feral bear populations in Alaska, photographing and videotaping the large predators' day to day lives, in alarmingly close-proximity to the "seemingly" gentle giants. Unlike the telephoto lens footage (of Mutual of Omaha and National Geographic fame) taken distances of hundreds of yards away, Treadwell would position himself within mere feet of his subjects, talking to them, singing to them, and even reaching out and touching them when the urge arose, the result being a plethora (and a reported 100 hours of raw footage) of scenes of fantastic beauty and raw untamed nature.
Narrator, Interviewer, and Filmmaker Herzog uses a deft yet gentle hand unearthing the truths and contradictions that composed and surrounded the life of Treadwell, in a series of revealing and often humorous interviews with friends and confidantes of the troubled self-proclaimed bear-protector.
Half self-taught naturalist, half actor and wannabe television personality, Treadwell is the ultimate star of this film, whose eventual (unseen) demise at the teeth and claws of a feral bear would seem almost poetic if not for its brutal simple horrifying reality.
And that is all I've got to say about that.
Mike Out