Grizzly Man Documentary showing - starts 8/12/2005

[sardog1]

Well, folks, it's time to decide whether you want TT as a house guest or not. The rag that claims to be NH's newspaper lists a showing on the Discovery Channel this Saturday (Feb. 4) at 8:00 p.m.

 

[sli74]

Lion's Gate Films forum mentions that the DVD is set to be released on Dec 26th, which means it will probably be available for rental soon after...

No word on when the airing will be on the Discovery channel!

Jay

I rented the DVD from Netflix, so it is already available for rental. It was VERY interesting and thought provoking.

sli74

 

[Artex]

I also rented it from Netflix. Aside from some of the interview subjects appearing to be showboating, I thought it was a really well done documentary. I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[Jay H]

Cool, thanks for the update. I have not had any TV since late december since my new house cannot get a line of sight to the satellite (It's woodsy!). But I'm getting digital cable installed hopefully this friday... If not, I can try to see if I can get a friend to record it...

Jay

 

[sleeping bear]

I had to twist my husband's arm to rent this last week. I owe him BIG TIME!
We evenutally turned it off. As has been mentioned already, I understand his whole "having a calling" type attitude, but I don't see how he was helping the bears at all. As far as they showed in the film, I couldn't see how he was "studying" them, at least for an even mildy scientific point of view. I must have missed how any of that was really helping the bears either.

Anyway, mute button and fast forward were musts. It might have been tolerable had we gotten to listen to the tape of them getting mauled. Call me sick or whatever, but the people in the move got to hear it, why can't we? Plus it is a Lion's Gate film, notoriuos for gory movies.

The footage of the bears were the only good parts.

Lindsay and Andy give it two thumbs down.

 

[king tut]

I would recommend spending $3 to rent it, or to watch it on cable for free. I thought it was a good thought provoking movie. If you're looking for a movie about a man helping bear story, don't rent it though. It is much more interesting as a look into a warped mind. I kinda liked TT, but you could tell that some neurons weren't quite firing up in that fella. Some great bear footage though. Is it just me, or did the bears always seem to have that "I wonder how he would taste?" look.

 

[Artex]

Is it just me, or did the bears always seem to have that "I wonder how he would taste?" look.

I thought that as well. And though I thought Treadwell as a person did more damage than good (which is not to say he didn't do any good) for the bears, I still think it's worth watching. The documentary makes you think, which is good.

 

[sardog1]

Just found out that the TV premiere is actually this Friday, Feb. 3, at 8:00 p.m., with a repeat on Saturday, Feb. 4, also at 8:00.

 

[Seeker]

Excellent film, IMO. And I thought the director handled the tape of the killing brilliantly. As he put it, "this is not a snuff film." I think if you did hear it, you would have wished you hadn't.

The DVD is worth renting because is has a special feature on the making of the music for the film. You get to see Richard Thompson's genius in action. It's almost as good as the film itself.

 

[Rick]

Well I finally saw the movie. I'll get red-squared for this for sure, but I think the Treadwell was completely screwed up with a warped sense of the creatures around him and an overall lack of common sense. (and looking for attention, apparently ever since he "lost" the Cheers spot to Woody Harrelson)

I started watching the show Friday night on Discovery and then promptly fell asleep (Does that say more about the movie or about me?) So I watched it again Saturday with my wife and definitely stayed awake. She walked away and started sewing after 20 minutes saying that she couldn't watch such a fool and listen to him with that odd babytalk voice. I persevered (with a bag of pretzels).

I don't put Treadwell in the same league as McCandless. McCandless seemed to have much more intelligence with a bit more of a balanced personality, but just misplaced ideals. I read and re-read Into the Wilderness about 8 times, absorbing as much as I could about McCandless, trying to understand how he saw things.

This Treadwell guy, however, brought out my worst side.

Treadwell seemed to be an extremely unbalanced individual. Babytalking about warm bear crap that just came out of the bear and touching it while cooing in newborn wonderment that it's life????

I also agree about the one scene with the folks in the boat that are taking pictures of the bear and as it appears the bear wanders over to them they throw some rocks at it - Here's Treadwell hiding in the bushes aghast that they are hurting one of His" babies. He decides to stay hidden. He then talks up the entire film about how he is protecting these bears and how he is the only one doing so. He didn't even speak to the folks in the boat or caution them (Which IIRC, Herzog says is really the only case that Treadwell could document on tape that other people where near "his" bears.)

Am I missing something here - He never protected bears - Henever did anything other than tape them and worry about his hair and cap. I just don't see anywhere where he was doing research. Seems like a guy who couldn't get along with people and found a way to make himself known while not having to go through the stresses of everyday socialization with others for 3 months out of the year. If anything he gave the bears a false sense of familiarity around humans.

The bit about wishing he were gay so he could go to truckstops to get it done and the part of him breaking down in anger at the NPS (which it seemed if he wasn't cooing and babytalking he was cursing and swearing angrily) didn't really need to be in there.

Sorry for my cynicism, but he is someone would not want him near my campsite. Ever.

I think it was Dave Metsky who had as a signature "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at start to change".
I've liked that saying since I first read it about a year or so ago. I think about it whenever I don't understand the logic behind something. Sometimes it works, this time it definitely did not.

 

[Jaytrek57]

McCandless (Supertramp). I don't know man. One could make the arguement that Treadwell had more experience in the outdoors (13 plus years?). Plus, I would argue that book is more about Krakauer's demons.

Treadwell did ward off poachers. This isn't covered in-depth in the film...but it did happen. Just by him being there, people knowing that...I think it detered people.

Treadwell wasn't gay. His speech and inflections may lead people to think that way (perhaps taint their view?) but it is pretty clear he wasn't. He knew people thought he was...that's why (IMHO) the reference in the film.

I am so divided on this guy and by no means defending him. This wasn't a "one-shot" personality. He did this for 13 years. I personally believe, right or wrong, it became another addiction. I disagree with his "closeness" to "his" bears, no electric fence, etc..

Again, I just don't know where I fall on this...I guess that's why it makes such great internet fodder.

Go Patriots...er...I mean I hope the Steelers cover.

Peace.

 

[Maddy]

The fact that he chose to return to the camp, late in the season, because he got ticked off at humanity; either was a suicide attempt or demonstrates just how little he understood about the bear's seasonal patterns. To re enter a camp, where all of the study bears had gone into hibernation and had been replaced by newcomers that he had no experience with, that too me, was either a huge act of stupidity or a death wish.

Just my 0.02

This is what I keep going back to. The "newcomers" are the ones who did him in, not the "study bears". If a grizzly can acclimate to anyone is there even a remote chance that the "study group" bears acclimated to Treadwell? They really did allow him to dwell in their midst.
Did Treadwell just push the envelope a little to much when he went back at season's end and encountered the "newcomers"? Had he gotten away with it for so long that he was now overconfident about his own invicibility in grizzly territory? He had given up on "grizzly humans" yet felt quite comfortable going back to be with "his grizzly bear buddies."
It would have been interesting to see how much more time he could have spent with the 'study bears' and remain unharmed.
It's a very tragic story. It is most definitely thought provoking.

 

[king tut]

I would say that the main reason that treadwell was eaten was... because the bear was hungry. They showed a scene earlier where the bears had eaten a younger bear, either for food or I believe they said so the mother would stop lactating. If they are willing to eat their own, why wouldn't they eat him? I also agree w/ others, that Timmy was trying to use the bears to become a celebrity. As far as him almost being Woody on "Cheers", that seemed like another one of his concocted stories. Kind of like his past that was made up and his Australian accent. There seemed to be a lot of similarities between him and Mccandles, but Timmy was going into the bush to become famous, not to escape society. I kind of cringe when I see him showing his tapes to kids in school. I could imagine him trying to set up a field trip to bring the kids out to his own petting zoo of bears. The whole scene w/ Letterman was kind of cryptic too. As far as the whole scene w/ him talking about being completely not gay. That was just weird. It seems like he was trying to convince himself and not the general public. My theory is that Tim thought... a feminine male would not be the best subject to be one out living and conquering the grizzlies. He did not want to hire that guy for his film. He wanted the macho guy that would stand over the cliffs and talk about how he is beating the park system, how he could die at any moment, and how tough he is. There seemed to be a large difference in personality when he was doing his macho publicity videos, and then when he was being himself and yelling in a high pitch at the fox who had taken his hat. To a casual observer of the movie, it looks like he had gone to Alaska to become a new person and leave the old person behind in California.

 

[Seeker]

Well I finally saw the movie. I'll get red-squared for this for sure, but I think the Treadwell was completely screwed up with a warped sense of the creatures around him and an overall lack of common sense. (and looking for attention, apparently ever since he "lost" the Cheers spot to Woody Harrelson)...

Definitely some good points Rick, and I agree with many of them. I still thought it was a fascinating movie in a Don Quiote (sp?) kind of way.

 

[cp2000]

I just got around to seeing this flick and found it ok. In one sense it reminded me of some of Jack Kerouacs writtings. Someone who goes out into the woods to get away from chemical addiction and hopefully find themselves. As to wheather or not he belonged out romping with bears who knows. It doesnt seem as if any harm came to the wildlife because of it.

I liked the shots of him running with fox alot.



Id give it 2.5 out of 5.

 

[Dugan]

I too saw it on the Discovery channel this weekend. It's worth watching for the scenery. I found Treadwell's rhetoric to be that of that of a self-aggrandizing idiot.

Perhaps he did discourage some poaching by his presence, however that cannot be and is not documented. In addition, we cannot know how many of those same bears have been poached or killed because his presence acclimated them to people. At least one has been documented: the bear who killed Treadwell and his girlfriend.

Some of his statements clearly showed that he lacked basic understanding of bears. For instance, his statement that the bears recognized him by sight, despite his donning a camouflage disguise. Like dogs, bears take in the world around them mainly by SCENT. The bears recognized him because he SMELLED the same, not because they could SEE through a disguise. This example shows an egregious misunderstanding of how a bear senses the world. Given this (and many other examples of both bear and fox in the documentary), I would tend to doubt the results of any of his so-called studies.

Other stuff:
It's a shame someone else was killed due to Treadwell.
It's a shame the bear that ate him was killed due to Treadwell.
If Treadwell was performing study/research, why does none of his dialog in the documentary reflect that?
Where is the evidence that supports his claim that he was more effective than the NPS in protecting the bears?
Becoming "one with the [insert wild animal species here]": You're human. You cannot perceive the world in a way that isn't human.
Gay: as I recall, Treadwell said that his sex life would be easier if he were gay rather than hetero. I do not remember any other context. I don't know why it was included unless it was an attempt to show more of Treadwell's character.

And finally, yeah, Treadwell was eaten because he finally crossed paths with a bear that was hungry enough. It didn't maul him. It ate him.

 

[charlos]

grizzly people

has anyone visited http://www.grizzlypeople.com/home.php ? i believe nowone has mentioned it in this thread. This was how treadwell believed that he was helping to protect the bear and at the same time educating school children (free of charge) about preserving nature.

 

[sleeping bear]

has anyone visited http://www.grizzlypeople.com/home.php ? i believe nowone has mentioned it in this thread. This was how treadwell believed that he was helping to protect the bear and at the same time educating school children (free of charge) about preserving nature.

Pretty weak in my opinion.

Interesting it says in several places to stay at least 100 feet away from bears, and that a "fed bear is a dead bear". That's the saying, but the priniciple applies to most wildlife, and you can't tell me he wasn't feeding those foxes in the movie.

Do as I say not as I do...

 

[BrentD22]

The sites where great

Seeing the bears, the fox, the grass, lakes, ect was great. I do have to say that I think the guy was kinda wacky. How did he afford all of this if he didn't ask for money? It was interesting to hear the Ranger guy that said he thinks he did more harm to the bears than good.

 

[king tut]

if you want to see a funny parody, check out this link
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2709961
i just about pooped my pants
i may be going to hell, but i am enjoying the ride