Thoughts on Grizzly Man

I’m sitting here watching “Grizzly Man” on the Discovery Channel. It’s kind of late and I have to be up tomorrow morning early, so I probably won’t stay to watch the end of it, but I did want to put down my thoughts on it…

For those who don’t know, “Grizzly Man” is the story of Timothy Treadwell, who was an environmentalist who dedicated his life to ‘protecting’ the grizzly bears of Alaska, and was eaten by one of them in 2003. The film was made by Werner Herzog and was released in 2005. I did not see it when it was released, and I actually had no plans to see it; I am only watching it now because it’s on for free…based on what I read of the man and the movie, I felt that he was tempting fate and got what he deserved. Based on what I have seen thus far…

Tim Treadwell was no fool (he knew what he was doing), but he was definitely crazy. One cannot spend so much time around wild animals and think that they are things to be personified, or that they will “care” about you. I think that he had a wonderful love of the creatures, but he did not have the respect for them that one should have for wild creatures who have the ability to kill you. You cannot become a bear by acting like one. He crossed the boundary and paid the price. One of the people interviewed in the movie stated that the real tragedy was that his girlfriend was also killed and eaten by the bear…I don’t know. I initially felt the same way, but why was she there? He may have been certifiable, but what was she? What did she think would happen, was she also certifiable? She crossed the line as well.

I won’t be able to finish watching it tonight, I doubt I’ll be able to see the point where Werner Herzog (who sounds almost exactly like the Arnold Schwarzenegger character on the Simpsons) listens to the tape of Treadwell being attacked and eaten. For the squeamish, the tape is not played on the movie; Herzog listens to the tape via earphones. I wanted to see his reaction for myself…maybe one day I will finish watching the movie but I can’t say that I’m surprised at the fate of Treadwell.