Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Grizzly Man
"Grizzly Man" is a very good documentary. Timothy Treadwell is a guy who loves bears and spent 13 summers in Alaska "alone" (or with his girlfriend) with the bears. He wanted to "protect" the bears and "save" them from human and the "civilization." But eventually he and his girlfriend were decapitated by one of the bears. A team came over and shot the bear to death, so their remains could be taken out of the bear.
He is a passionate and crazy guy. What I like about this film is that it didn't just collectively show the video footages shot by Timothy Treadwell over the years. The filmmaker also interviewed Treadwell's family, friends, and rescue workers to show us who Timothy Treadwell really was. The film doesn't glorify Treadwell's activities. Quite contrary, the filmmaker doesn't hold the same belief as Treadwell did. Neither do I.
I think that Treadwell's did more harm to the bears, even he claimed that he went to the National Park to protect the bears. How? By getting closer to them and eaten by the bears? Nobody has ever got killed in Alaska National Park, until Treadwell. No bear has ever been killed either in the National Park, until Treadwell.
This is a guy full of courage, passion, love, and ideas. But he is also flawed, stubborn, obsessive, and weird. He is definitely mentally ill in my book. When I was watching him "communicating" with the animals, the behavior reminds me religions. He devoted himself to those animals like the most religious people. He explained things in the way he wants to believe. He thought that animals appreciated his love and his "protection" and that turned around making him so happy. He never credited any fault to those animals. He only credits wonderful things to the animals. He thinks the animals love him as much as he love those animals, although those animals never said anything to him and one of the bears even ate him alive. Isn't that what religion does to people?
No, I will not go anywhere close to a bear, unless it's a stuffed animal.
My rating: 8 out of 10.
