Grizzly Man
2005
Documentary Motion Picture

Grizzly Man is a documentary about the 13 summers Timothy Treadwell spent with the grizzly bears in Katmai National Park in Alaska. Shocking footage of Treadwell walking amongst the brown bears and patting a full-grown grizzly on the nose is truly amazing and truly irresponsible. The immensity of these animals and their ferocity is nothing to take lightly. The natives of the region for some 7 thousand years have warned of crossing the invisible line between these wonderful creatures and the human world. Besides the lack of respect for their role in Nature, the acclimation of these creatures to humans is a massive threat, not only to the bears themselves, but to innocent humans who accidentally encounter bears and do not have the understanding of their behaviors that Treadwell had. This looseness lead to Treadwell's own horrific death where he and his girlfriend were actually partially eaten by a late-season and hungry bear who wasn't interested in Treadwell as a curiosity, but as something to curb its own appetite and store enough calories to make it through a hibernation period.

With all that said, there is a deeper and more human aspect to what happened that lead to Treadwell's death. Although Treadwell was only 46 at his death (49 today), his situation was one of what many GenXer's and probably GenYer's feel in this this world of technology and isolation. Many of us ask "what happened to the natural world?" And "why are we so detached from it?" Couple this restlessness with alcohol, drugs and guilt and there is a recipe for many more Timothy Treadwells in the world. Treadwell found a way out of his pain from isolation and alcohol abuse. For him it was bears. For me it was my wife and kids. My obsession with protecting my kids and my own created world ultimately may lead to a similar destruction of the very world I am protecting for myself. Similarly, Timothy Treadwell latched onto the foxes and bears and created a world where he felt safe and where he felt he finally belonged. Although my kids won't eat me, as the grizzly that lead to Treadwell's demise, my life hangs in a similar balance. Love, emotion and attachment need to be tempered. Kids need strength in character from the adults in their life, but they do not need to be pressured. Like bears, kids need their own territory where they can lead their own life and learn life lessons. Bears cannot protect themselves from poachers, and maybe that is where a paternal role, similar to Treadwell's, may lie for people and the protection of bears. Children cannot protect themselves from immoral humans, but parents can teach caution for protection - and morality for a greater society.

Its true that we no longer fear wilderness, but there are many sacred aspects of wilderness and Nature that deserve respect. Tempered kindness and proactive thoughtfullness may eventually lead to protecting aspects of wild Nature and preserve our own society as well.

The film shows treadwell progressing from Nature lover to a militant-of-kindness whose evil foes were the Park Service, poachers and the "people world." He saw himself as morphing into a grizzly. It is all-to-abvious that this man's world revolved around his own problems and the bears and Alaska were his obsession, only second to himself. Alcoholics don't simply quit obsessions, they just go from one obsession to another and (hopefully not) revolve back around to alcohol. It would've been wonderful to see Timothy Treadwell champion his cause and preserve his bears, but his path was chosen through ignorance and emotion.

I envy the fact that Treadwell lived his dream in the most inconcieveably beautiful land on Earth and spent years in a world he created, and has gone emotionally and physically where very few people have gone - into the world of the grizzly bear.