If there was anyone at all to take this story to the screen, Werner Herzog, the distinguished German director, would have been our first choice. Mr. Herzog, a man who knew madness first hand, as his association to Klaus Kinsky proved, is a man that could make this documentary work in the way it does.
We follow an obsessed man, Tim Treadwell, whose love for the grizzly bears consumed him. Mr. Treadwell's own life, away from that setting, was nothing to speak of, but let him loose in the Alaska wilderness and he became a figure as large, as the bears he loved and cared for so much. Tim's passion for the grizzlies took him to appoint himself as the savior of the animals. This was a man that didn't pay attention to the dangers around him, because as all consumed individuals in search of greatness for achieving something, he lost track of what was real and what wasn't. Tim even gets his girlfriend Amie Huguenard involved in his quest for protecting the bears. At the same time, Mr. Treadwell is seen also with the foxes of the area, who didn't pose the same danger as the great brown bears.
What Mr. Herzog has achieved is to show us the man in the mission he set out for himself, expanding in the material Mr. Treadwell had amassed on his own. The director shows us breathtaking views of Alaska, as probably never has been shown before. The cinematography takes our breath away. The Katmai National Park has never been seen in its glorious splendor before.
"Grizzly Bear", like "The March of the Penguins", currently playing in local cinemas, is a welcome diversion from the typical summer Hollywood fare of films that are big on special effects that don't add anything to our enjoyment because the adhere to the same tired old formula.
We follow an obsessed man, Tim Treadwell, whose love for the grizzly bears consumed him. Mr. Treadwell's own life, away from that setting, was nothing to speak of, but let him loose in the Alaska wilderness and he became a figure as large, as the bears he loved and cared for so much. Tim's passion for the grizzlies took him to appoint himself as the savior of the animals. This was a man that didn't pay attention to the dangers around him, because as all consumed individuals in search of greatness for achieving something, he lost track of what was real and what wasn't. Tim even gets his girlfriend Amie Huguenard involved in his quest for protecting the bears. At the same time, Mr. Treadwell is seen also with the foxes of the area, who didn't pose the same danger as the great brown bears.
What Mr. Herzog has achieved is to show us the man in the mission he set out for himself, expanding in the material Mr. Treadwell had amassed on his own. The director shows us breathtaking views of Alaska, as probably never has been shown before. The cinematography takes our breath away. The Katmai National Park has never been seen in its glorious splendor before.
"Grizzly Bear", like "The March of the Penguins", currently playing in local cinemas, is a welcome diversion from the typical summer Hollywood fare of films that are big on special effects that don't add anything to our enjoyment because the adhere to the same tired old formula.