The story of man vs. nature is one of the oldest and most prolific archetypes we have. You can probably think of an excellent example of it, like Jaws, or a not-so-great version, like Furry Vengeance. It's hard to break new ground with it. It is especially harder to do that in the documentary genre, and even more so when the material available to you is incredibly limited. Werner Herzog's 2005 documentary Grizzly Man is not only another entry into the canon but it also defines it. Herzog may be more well known for his odd yet charming interviews, and popping up in The Mandalorian these days, but Grizzly Man is what put him on the mainstream map, It is both an excellent example of his filmmaking prowess, and not just the best documentary on man vs. nature, but the best documentary of the 2000s.
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Who Is Timothy Treadwell and What Is 'Grizzly Man' About?
Grizzly Man would be nothing without its subject, Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell was an amateur wildlife activist and filmmaker, known for spending 13 summers with brown bears in Alaska, and for being mauled to death by one, along with his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard. An amateur filmmaker is one thing, there have been many famous examples, and even documentaries about the idea of getting a camera, and just making a movie. However, an amateur bear expert is certainly not something that you see very often, and for good reason. They are incredibly dangerous animals who could kill you without breaking a sweat. To study and, especially, to interact with wild bears, you would not only have to be incredibly brave, but incredibly well-trained. You certainly cannot discount Treadwell's bravery, but he was severely underqualified to be doing what he was doing, and the film states as such many times, both through experts and in Herzog's own opinion. His death via bear mauling is openly called out by many of the experts interviewed in the film, as it seems it was obvious to everyone but Treadwell that he would meet this fate.
Werner Herzog Makes No Judgements in 'Grizzly Man'
This is where Grizzly Man becomes a special film, in the way Herzog treats Treadwell as a protagonist. A more conventional, boilerplate documentary would take a very obvious stance on Treadwell, and state it plainly. He was either a Henry David Thoreau-type figure who wanted to escape alienating city life and connect with nature, or he was a dumb hippie who thought he could be the Snow White of the Bears. Herzog, instead, decides to approach Treadwell differently. Instead of passing outright judgment, he chooses to try and figure out why someone would do what Treadwell did, and ultimately what he got out of doing it. Herzog expresses awe at the images captured by Treadwell, of bears in their natural habitat, foxes prancing over his tent, and the beautiful Alaskan wilderness.
There is a deep understanding of a life that simply did not turn out. After a failed acting career, in which he was supposedly the runner-up for Woody Harrelson's role in Cheers, Treadwell turned to drugs and alcohol, and it nearly killed him. He credits the bears for saving his life, saying that it was his purpose to protect them. This is treated with the utmost respect by Herzog, who even openly praises Treadwell for the work he did with public schools for free just to teach them about the bears. However, as Herzog dives deeper into the archive, what he uncovers becomes a bit worrying.
Treadwell's amateur status as both a filmmaker and as a bear expert starts to become painfully clear. The way he films and interacts with these animals goes from playfully anthropomorphic, to almost delusional. When a fox takes his hat, he treats the animal with the kind of anger you would have towards a misbehaving sibling, rather than a wild animal who has never really been around humans. One of Treadwell's friends in the film even goes as far as to say that the only reason he lasted as long as he did with the bears is that they were probably incredibly confused by the way he acted around them. There is an incredible sense of mania in the later clips of Treadwell, saying that God put him here to protect these bears and that God himself listens to him. He is increasingly paranoid about a poaching threat that was almost nonexistent according to park rangers, yet Treadwell openly berates the government for trying to stop him while they allow people to infest the bears' territory. This is very clearly someone who is flirting with something very, very dangerous, with no real expertise to fall back on.
Werner Herzog Does Not Hold Back on the Tragedy of the Story
Herzog's status as a veteran filmmaker is very important to the way the audience views this film. He is someone who has seen it all, done it all. He pushed a boat over a mountain just to make a movie about it (Fitzcarraldo), which someone else made an equally insane documentary about (Burden of Dreams by Les Blank). He grew up during World War II, with no running water, living in a remote mountain village. He walked from Munich to Paris to give a sick friend hope. He ate a shoe on a bet with Errol Morris. This is not his first rodeo, he has seen some serious things in his life, both behind the camera, and with no camera. So when you see him absolutely broken listening to the tape of the fatal encounter between the bear and Treadwell, you are just as horrified as he is. He says to Treadwell's friend who owns the tape, "I think you should not keep it, you should destroy it. I think that's what you should do because it will be the white elephant in your room all your life." This punctuates the final sequences in the film.
As Treadwell heads back into the woods later in the season, we see the bears start to act more erratic, with the bears he has studied returning to hibernation, and more desperate bears heading out further to find food. We see them diving repeatedly for scraps of food, getting into spectacular fights, and seemingly stalking Treadwell. One bear in particular, Herzog notes, known for his aggressive nature, appears in a segment of Treadwell's films. As we see his last moments on screen, Herzog states "He seems to hesitate to leave the last frame of his own films." As if somewhere, deep down, Treadwell did understand the overwhelming reality that he could never be what he thought he was. Herzog sums up his feelings on the film, "And what haunts me is that in all the faces of all the bears that Treadwell ever filmed, I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. 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 savior."
Grizzly Man is a testament to the power of true, dedicated documentary filmmaking. It examines a subject beyond just informing the viewer of who, what, when, where, and why — it extrapolates those questions onto us all. It makes a figure like Treadwell, someone who could easily be a martyr or fool, into someone as complicated as any great protagonist in film. Herzog does something in just over 90 minutes that a million Netflix documentaries never have. And this film is available completely for free on multiple platforms right now. Grizzly Man is a strange, beautiful film, one that stays in your mind long after you watch it. It stands alone not only as the best documentary of the 2000s but one of the best films of the 2000s, period.
