Grizzly Man
I have a confession to make. A cinephile confession. I think Werner Herzog is overrated. Not terribly overrated, but maybe given too much credit for his contributions to film because of his eccentric reputation. A reputation bolstered by events such as saving Joaquin Phoenix, appearing in Star Wars TV shows, or carrying a ship over a mountain for the purposes of telling a story about an insane man who carries a ship over a mountain. This is only the tip of the iceberg for a director and auteur who does countless interviews where he happily contributes to the legend of Herzog via anecdotes of the amazing events of his life. I recall one interview on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend where he discusses releasing a friend of his from the enchantment of life he placed on her, and within weeks she shed her mortal coil. The contemporary legend of Herzog can feel a bit like a construct at times. (Yes, everyone’s legend is a construct of sorts. Usually it’s a bit of a slower process.) To be clear: Herzog has clearly lived an amazing life. Look at this young man:
Further, Herzog is undoubtedly a cultural gem. He’s managed to enter multiple spheres of fame through his contributions to film, but also, through his contributions to pop-culture. (Cameos in Parks and Recreation, Rick and Morty, Star Wars, or Boondocks, to name some recent examples.) But, despite his cultural impact, it feels shoddily manufactured to a degree. It’s easy to see why the grizzly man, Timothy Treadwell, intrigues Herzog so. He is seemingly as principled and driven as Herzog himself.
Grizzly Man (2005) is a documentary that tells the story of Timothy Treadwell, a passionate bear enthusiast who lived among grizzly bears in Alaska for 13 summers. The film uses Treadwell's own footage, along with interviews with friends, family, and experts, to paint a complex portrait of the man who was deeply devoted to bears, but also increasingly reckless and delusional. It is Herzog’s greatest work, and his most incisive. No one is more qualified to analyze Timothy Treadwell than Werner Herzog.
The film feels surprisingly relevant at nineteen years old. Consider the way that Treadwell’s contemporary naysayers write about Treadwell’s difficulty with the bears: “We need to drastically increase the number of bears in America, especially at the Berkeley campus.” What!? They regard him as a liberal naturalist crackpot, and their language for him is interchangeable with the vitriol of today. Hypocritical in its justification of violence, as long as it’s directed at the people whom they disagree with.
Herzog’s intentions feel as pure in this film as they ever have. He defends Treadwell’s time with the bears from a filmmaker's perspective. “He captured such glorious improvised moments, the likes of which the studio directors with their union crews could never dream of.” We are then treated with footage of Treadwell waking up to find a fox sleeping on his tent, and subsequently playing with the fox. It’s fantastic. Later scenes introduce greater levity: a fox is eaten by a predator, and within five days, all that’s left is the skull of the fox. “Five days and all that’s left is a skull.” Treadwell says. The relevance of this line becomes clear as you watch.
Grizzly Man, aside from being a stellar subject study, feels like a skeleton key for Herzog’s work and Herzog himself. Herzog interviews multiple subjects who offer a negative portrayal of Treadwell, the grizzly man. Despite this, Herzog searches for the virtue in Treadwell’s actions, and highlights the beauty of his footage and experience. It’s as if Herzog is defending himself in a possible alternate life. He, like Treadwell, traverses foreign lands looking for truth, beauty, connection, but most of all, recognition by foreign beasts. Treadwell in the Alaskan peninsula, Herzog in Los Angeles. For both of them, the compulsion for wide recognition is their greatest virtue, and their greatest downfall.
Grizzly Man
Written and Directed by Werner Herzog
2005
103 minutes
English
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Stream it on Criterion Channel, Hoopla, or Kanopy
You’ll like this if you like: Into the Wild (2007), Free Solo (2018)
One argument for Herzog -- he is (I think) unique in film history in that his filmography is basically equally split between fiction and documentary, and his success in both fields certainly makes him stand out. Think of how many celebrated cinematic auteurs never attempted the artistic challenge of the documentary.