THE GRIZZLY MAN

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/24/05 at 11:54pm

You've got to see this theatrically-released documentary as soon as you can. Is it comedy or tragedy? You decide. A guy goes to live in the wild for thirteen summers to treat "big bears" like teddies, and ultimately both he and his girlfriend get eaten by them. (This isn't a spoiler; it's one of the first facts introduced in the film and repeated throughout it.) I don't know how much more I should say here. Lots of laughs in the theater, including from me. The guy was so in love with grizzly bears that he touched the brown waste of one and mused about how beautiful it was because it came out of her body and is still so warm. Nevertheless, I ended up pitying him and wanting to give him a big hug. This guy - Timothy Treadwell - clearly was facing an ongoing identity crisis and tried to prove his worth to the world by protecting bears that were (imo) generally indifferent to him. In death, he remains the butt of jokes and many people will say he had it coming. But the documentary - for all of its unintentionally funny moments - still left me seeing Treadwell as a tragic figure who was bullied in youth and ended up paying the ultimate price for trying to validate himself.

Thoughts?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/24/05 at 11:57pm

I plan on seeing this - it calls to me. I've been reading a lot lately about his past, and how this 'grizzly lover' persona was just a creation of an actor who couldn't ever get anything going. I definitely want to see this piece, though - accepting, of course, that it (in-and-of-itself) is just another artist's interpretation of another reality.
Updated On: 8/25/05 at 11:57 PM

[broadway86]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 12:06am

I can't wait to see this.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 12:11am

The film barely mentions his acting background. He narrowly lost a role on Cheers to Woody Harrelson and was depressed about it. That's pretty much all that the documentary says about his acting pursuit. The insight into his sexuality (does your research suggest that he was a repressed homosexual or bisexual) was presented... memorably.

But it's clear throughout the film that Treadwell knew he could've been eaten by a bear. Often he says, "God please do not let me get eaten by a grizzly bear." And when Letterman jokes that one day he'll open the newspaper to find that Treadwell has been eaten, the studio audience erupts into fits of laughter but Treadwell is visibly disturbed. Somehow he still had the courage to return to the wilderness and continue petting grizzly bear noses.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 2:15am

Just something else to reconsider, DGrant and broadway86, after you finish watching the film: Was it an unnecessary affront to Tim? The director/narrator was sure to incorporate dozens of scenes in which Tim proves himself to be a fool, and yet the narrator's own tone is serious, almost as though he was narrating a sobering PBS documentary. I found it mocking and a negative for an otherwise interesting film.

[broadway86]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 2:45am

I think I understand what you're getting at, and I'll PM you when I see it.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 5:36am

Another interesting note: Leonardo DiCaprio is producing and starring in a film about Treadwell. Apparently, he knew the guy. They may have even been friends.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:11am

does this mean we can look forward to leo also being eaten by bears?

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:07am

Well, I knew about the Leo movie before I knew about this documentary, and the prospect of seeing him get eaten by bears was the only thing that interested me in it. (this coming from someone who likes the guy enough.)