The Man Who Would Be Bear
Herzog explores passion of troubled eco-activist in 'Grizzly Man'

Don't mistake Grizzly Man for one of those cute wildlife documentaries. This is no country bear jamboree, and it's not especially kid-friendly (it's rated R for language). It's German-born filmmaker Werner Herzog's absorbing, harrowing, oddly lyrical exploration into the life, death, passion and subtext of Timothy Treadwell, a self-made eco-activist who spent 13 summers living among and videographing the wild grizzly bears of Alaska.

In October, 2003, the mauled remains of Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were found near their campsite in the Katmai National Park and Reserve. Herzog uses this factoid as a launching pad for his cinematic investigation, not into the circumstances of Treadwell's death, but the mystery of his chosen life in limbo between the human and natural worlds.

A self-styled "kind warrior" on a mission to protect the animals he loved, Treadwell was also ready to "become a samurai" to face down challenges from the bears themselves, and to campaign against poachers, tour groups, and Fish and Game rulemakers. In the off seasons, he took his videos on the road to public schools and made high-profile appearances on the David Letterman Show. Herzog incorporates lots of Treadwell's own extraordinary video footage, in which Treadwell stands his ground to earn what he calls the "respect" of the bears and a place in their hierarchy, and sweet-talks their curious cubs. Over the years, he befriends entire generations of foxes, who make a playgound out of his tent and trot along at his heels like puppies.

But alongside the St. Francis persona Treadwell was so careful to cultivate (always portraying himself on camera as utterly alone in the wilderness, although on some occasions he was camping with an assistant), rises an alternative portrait of a reckless thrill-seeker fleeing a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol in the "civilized" world, who treated wild animals like "people in bear suits," and "got what he deserved" (according to one Fish and Game warden).

Herzog hews to the complex middle ground, especially in a revealing series of what he calls "confessonal" footage in which Treadwell discusses (in his genial, self-deprecating manner) his private life, his failed relationships, and his redemption in the wilderness. ("I had no life," he tells the camera. "Now I have a life.") Thankfully, Herzog refuses to use an audio tape that exists of the fatal mauling (although the local coroner describes the condition of the bodies in fairly lurid detail).

The tragedy of Treadwell's fate is undeniable. But while Herzog professes to disagree with Treadwell's view of the nobility of nature (Herzog refers to the "dead-eyed indifference" of the bears in Treadwell's videos), he leaves the lingering implication that Treadwell's death might have been a final, brutally ecstatic consummation with the natural world that so obsessed him.

GRIZZLY MAN With Timothy Treadwell. A film by Werner Herzog. A Lions Gate release. Rated R. 103 minutes. (***)
Review published in Good Times, August 18, 2005