Must See TV
You read the title and you may think that I am going to write something sports related like the olympics, Thursday night NBC, some upcoming college basketball games, the Accenture Match Play Championship, or the Baseball World Classic, but it's not even close.
The first time I watched Grizzly Man was Friday, February 4th and I was absolutely stunned. I thought I had seen some crazy things in my life, but this topped them all. Grizzly Man is the story of Timothy Treadwell, a guy who decided he wanted to spend a few months each summer living with bears for 13 years. Why? Well, because he thought he was protecting the bears and doing something good for them. In fact, at one point, he even refers to the bears as his friends. Well, you can guess what happened to Timothy, he was attacked and eaten by one of the bears his 13th summer there (his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard was also eaten).
What makes this documentary so intriguing is the fact that Treadwell is hell bent on his thought that he is somehow protecting these bears while he is there. Sure, there are poachers who come to hunt the bears for various reasons, and we even see them at one point while Treadwell is hiding near the water, but we never see Treadwell actually go up to and confront the poachers, so who knows if he stopped them from doing anything.
It isn't just the fact that he is there living with bears, it was how he interacted with them. He would get as close as he could to these bears and say things like, "Hey Sugar bear" (yeah, he named all of them), or "You're such a pretty bear" or "I love you. I love you". Treadwell actually thought these bears enjoyed him being around and that they knew who he was and that they were his friends.
Treadwell had no training with animals of any kind. Well, that is unless you count being the second choice behind Woody Harleson to play "Woody" on Cheers (as he proclaims) and then being so distraught over not making it as an actor that he did nothing but drink and do drugs after that. What better way to prove you are sober than to go live with bears for a few months every year.
By the way, it still disturbs me that this guy lived with BEARS. Seriously, bears. Bears. An animal which will kill you if it has the opportunity. Yeah, bears.
So, he decides to live in Alaska with no protection against these bears and "protect" them. Then, each winter he would travel around (without asking anyone for money) and show his pictures and videos to grade school classes. My question is why did the educators at these schools let this guy in the door? What was he selling them on? "Hey, I just lived with some bears, which is completely insane, I have never had training with any animals, I didn't do any scientific research or take any data, I just lived with them, but I'd like to share my experiences with your class". Are you kidding me? I really hope that when Treadwell left each classroom, the teachers would say something like, "Okay kids, that's what happens when you spend an extended period of your life not being sober. This is what a crazy person does, never do anything like this."
Treadwell made a point throughout the video to state that he does everything he does free of charge to anyone. Great, what are you doing that makes you think you should be charging people, and why tell us about it? Doing something selfless doesn't end up being selfless if you keep talking about it!
At one point, a bear comes right up to Treadwell and sniffs his camera, he smacks it and tells it to get away. Another time, a bear is in the water and Treadwell decides this would be an ideal time to try and pet it. As he gets about one foot away from the bear, it jerks its head towards Treadwell as if to say, "Are you kidding me? You're really going to try and pet me? I'm a bear. I swear to God, if you get any closer to me, I am going to rip your arms off! Why are you even here? You're an idiot." Well, at least that's what I would have said if I was the bear.
Treadwell ended up dying the way he wanted to die according to the account of a close friend. The man was crazy, I mean certifiably insane, and what made him even more crazy was that people around him were enabling him. Here are a few of the things which happen that make you finally realize, yup, this guy should be institutionalized.
- At one point one of the foxes which sleep right by Treadwell's camp (the coolest thing in this movie was the foxes he interacts with) takes one of his hats, which seems perfectly acceptable for a wild animal to do. However, this sets Treadwell off and he tears after this fox yelling, "Damn it, you better bring that hat back, that's a very important hat. Spirit (yeah, he named the foxes as well), you bring back that (bleeping) hat! Don't you dare go in that (bleeping) den. You better (expletive) not be in that (bleeping) den!" Um, it's a fox there guy. First of all, they aren't domesticated at all like a dog, and second of all, it's a fox, let it have the hat!
- While he is walking during one of his "scenes", he has the steady-cam at his side and starts to wonder why he doesn't have a girlfriend and proceeds to go into a 10 minute monologue about how no girls want a good guy and asking what women are looking for and why no one wants to be with him. Hey, maybe if you didn't LIVE WITH BEARS!
- If you have seen the previews for this documentary, you have undoubtedly seen him posing in front of the camera near the watersedge pleading, "I came here to protect these animals, in fact, I'm the only protection for these animals." He goes on and on, but in this scene, he sets up and performs about 13 different takes. Yes, he practices what he says and then apparently goes back and edits it for when he's showing grade school students a crazy person. What you don't see in the preview is the other 10 minutes of this speech which is a profanity laced diatribe about the government and how they're trying to prevent people from getting that close to the bears and how he has "(bleeping) beat" them. My question is this, how did you win, what are you beating them at, and why is it such a big deal? You're mad because the government is trying to protect people from getting within 100 yards of these bears. Yeah, that's just silly, why shouldn't people be able to get as close to wild bears as possible? Oh yeah, they're (bleeping) bears you idiot! This part is something you really need to see to believe, and while it is happening you can basically see the last strands of sanity come apart.
- I'm not going to go into much detail on this, but the way his friends speak of him like he was some sort of hero is astonishing. They saw nothing wrong with his behavior and praised it. The hour long special after the documentary was over which featured his friends sitting around talking about him topped it all. This is something you really need to see to comprehend.
I think my feelings on Timothy Treadwell and what he was doing are pretty clear. While I definitely don't wish death upon anyone, but I can't say I feel sorry for what happened to Treadwell. Did he get what he deserved? I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but he definitely knew it could happen, and he didn't care. That's the craziest part. Had the attack happened a little slower, it would have been caught on film, but Treadwell didn't have time to put the lens on the camera so there is only audio of his and Amie's death, which only Werner Herzog (the filmmaker) and the mortician have ever heard (the mortician is another crazy character you just have to see and listen to). The fact he thought he was doing good for these bears and didn't care if he died doing it is incomprehensible to me, but then again, so is hearing voices in my head I can't control, and people who are like the latter aren't allowed in society, maybe it's a good thing Treadwell was removed from it for extended periods of time.
Check it out Friday and Saturday on Discovery Channel and judge for yourself.
-Until next time...
posted by nate at 10:53 PM
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