Grizzly Man (Movie Review)

"[In these bears eyes] I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature. To me, there is no such thing as a secret world of the bears. And this blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in food. But for Timothy Treadwell this bear was a friend, a saviour.” (Werner Herzog, director and narrator of Grizzly Man)



i work two rows over from the nearest window; in the world of cubicles, that means i see only a slant of light from behind my back whenever i turn around and look up. natural light is limited, and much of my existence thrives on fluorescence. i can't work in the dark and, as much as i despise artificial light, i need it to stay awake.

today, due to ongoing consruction, we've had no ceiling lights — at all. i was tired when i got here this morning, but the day has since been impossible. headaches. absolute fatigue. etc. imagine being tired, and then showing up to work in the dark. it's cold in here, to boot, and i've been relying on my personal space heater to keep warm (the sound of which is a lullaby for anyone with tinnitus). all of this to say if the following spiel on grizzly man makes little to no sense... blame my employer.

with werner herzog's documentary, i was torn between the director's commentary and the camera's observations. i thought treadwell's footage said enough, and i was sometimes irritated by the director's voiceovers (which i found to be as superfluous as they were inciteful). i also found myself wanting to diagnose treadwell (asperger's syndrome?), which was disappointing insofar as i think one aspect of our humaness is the desire to diagnose anything that makes us uncomfortable about ourselves.

i otherwise enjoyed the documentary quite a bit. i found it interesting that treadwell harbored such bitterness for human society, but then cursed god or "that floaty hindu thing" when a lack of rainfall drove one grizzly to eat her cubs. he blames humans for being human; but blames negative aspects of animal nature on peripheral factors (or, even, an uncaring diety that -- surely -- must have been the cause of it all).  he failed to connect human nature to animal nature. he didn't see that, unlike the "bored indifference of nature," human cruelty is, at least, often tempered by ethics and social mores.

which isn't to say humans are necessarily any better. quite the contrary, in fact.

which is why i loved those angst-ridden monologues. timothy used expletives as readily as any basic article of speech (though in another, more subdued scene he was careful to refer to grizzly waste as "number 2"); he yelled at the camera; used violent body language. he was upset about more than the park service, i suspect, but i found nothing unordinary in his rants. some of us act in a similar manner during rush hour traffic (spitting and yelling at other drivers); some at their own children or spouses (the build-up & eventual displacement of self-hatred); some throw rocks through embassy windows; others never take anything out on anyone but themselves (suicide).

bears seldom attack humans unless they're hungry or feel their territory has been threatened. treadwell invaded their territory on a daily basis. what happened eventually is that he was still loitering about the grizzly maze when bear-food was out of season. those not yet in hibernation were hungry, and he was a great source of protein. they didn't eat him before then because they didn't need to. and one of the saddest aspects of timothy's life, i think, is that he actually believed he'd reached them. that he could live among them.

or perhaps that was the best aspect of his life. that he actually believed himself to be a success.