Werner Herzog’s documentary of “human ecstasies and dark inner turmoils” (a phrase that could be applied to any of his films, fiction or non-) follows Timothy Treadwell, a fiercely dedicated environmentalist and bear enthusiast who spent 13 consecutive summers in the Alaskan wilderness living amongst the bears. . . until one of them attacked, mauled and ate him. A natural born storyteller with surfer-dude hair and a sense of childlike wonder, Treadwell was the “Prince Valiant” of the wild, the self-appointed protector of an endangered species who wanted to “mutually mutate into a wild animal” in order to “handle” the life he lived; whether the bear that was found devouring what remained of his ribcage was obliging or defying him remains an open topic of debate amongst ecologists and philosophers alike. Since you know Treadwell’s fate from the get-go, Grizzly Man plays more like an eerie ghost story than a documentary, one told by Herzog as he paints a portrait of an extremely passionate yet probably hopelessly delusional man. A strange and mesmerizing journey; it is indeed amazing what Treadwell could do with animals, and the fact that he was able to do what he did for 13 years without one notable mishap before his violent demise is truly remarkable.
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New On Netflix: Grizzly Man