Grizzly Man

Started by MacGuffin, July 08, 2005, 03:50:41 PM

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Gold Trumpet

#45
I caught this film on the Discovery channel tonight. Commercials excluded, I was happy I saw it there. Reasons are below.

Grizzly Man is fascinating. The idea of a man spending 13 years in the Alaskan wilderness with Grizzly bears is a freak idea that makes one ask, "Why would someone do that?" But, this man Treadwell filmed his fantastic exploration. The documentary about him is allowed to really skimp on his life because his filmed experience is already interesting enough.

Yet the question of why was mostly on my mind and I was never felt fully satisfied with the answers in this film. Werner Herzog may have been the wrong director to do this film. Treadwell is a man who physically and emotionally resembles Klaus Kinski. Thinking about it, the similarity is staggering. A film could be made about Herzog's own journey to Treadwell after Kinski. Grizzly Man is a portrait made similarily along the lines of "My Best Fiend" that documents more the extremism and then offers snippets of criticism only here and there. After watching the film, "The diary of the Grizzly Man" aired. It was a filmed responce to the film. The insight it gave into the mind of this man was more provoking and thorough in giving me the answers I was looking for to why he gave so much of his life to such a cause.

But neither film overwhelms the other. Herzog gives the appropriate music and patience to preserving Treadwell's experience and the following documentary adaquately asks why. I was never too thrilled with either film. Grizzly Man is good but also repititious and inundated with so much of Treadwell's personality that just being annoyed with him can be proper criticism to enjoying the film. My father watched 45 minutes with me and walked off complaining about the guy. I understood why he did it. The film also reminds me of something I read a few years ago. At NYU apparently a student film was made of two people having sex. The attraction to seeing that filmed event was as likely as provoking as seeing a documentary on why the students who participated in having sex even did it. Both ideas have merit but making films that separate both experiences doesn't feel as rewarding as doing one that combines both. My criticism of Grizzly Man is that I never felt the criticism was truly merged with the experience. Knowing Werner Herzog I imagine he was too close to the subject to do so.

Pozer

I too saw this last night on Discovery.

I agree with most of what you say but not with the question of why being on your mind.  I think Herzog said it best in the film, that the answer lies only in Treadwell's head.  Then he gave us mass opinions on the subject which were all of course valid but also stirred the viewers mind causing the thought of right or wrong to jump back and forth. 

It was really constructed quite magnificently when you think about it.  His footage mixed with the trail of his (and his girlfriend's) death right from the get go as opposed to the normal formula of leading up to it.  This allows us to see the portrait of this man and his obsession, his destiny and the tragedy that eventually came of it simultaneously which inflicts that raw emotion throughout the whole journey.

JG

I saw it last night. 

It didn't seem to really follow anything chronologically, which I found interesting.  I liked it, but the commrecials annoyed me.  I'll have to see it again.  It was my first Herzog. 

squints

"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

pete

dude, Jimmygator is like 16 years old, you older dudes should really take it easy on the kid.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Pubrick

Quote from: pete on February 05, 2006, 08:06:47 PM
dude, Jimmygator is like 16 years old, you older dudes should really take it easy on the kid.
i thought squints comment, however vapid, was legitimate. he's known to post his reactions like that. see: "hahahaha"

but u bring up a good point.. so what if he's 16? Hedwig is 16, have you read his recent reviews for Turtles Can Fly and Naked not to mention his general points of argument in any topic? Samsong was 16 when he started posting, and he wrote some of this board's most insightful reviews and comments before succumbing to the devil's weed. chest rockwell too was 16 and developed into a relatively astute young man before our very eyes.

you're gonna have to come up with a better defense than age for your favourite local patron. i don't think he's said anything (exceedingly) embarrassing in this thread, so i hav to assume squints was being serious, but in other cases i think he has been called upon for ignorance that goes way beyond his age.. in many cases by people in similar stages of adolescent development.
under the paving stones.

JG

i agree that being 16 is not a good excuse, but i don't think i'm nearly as ignorant as you think i am.  sure, i may have used the same catch phrase once or twice, but i don't think that exemplifies my ignorance.  often, things i mean to say on these message boards come out wrong and look like i didn't put any thought into them.  more than anything, i think, i'm just not very good expressing myself through writing.  i always thought i was a good writer, but recently i've realized i got a long way to go.    it's funny because everyone I've encountered outside of the internet tell's me how eloquent and insightful i seem (my elders, mostly).  bash me as long as it's justified,  just know that i'm not as stupid as i may seem at times.   

hopefully i, too, will develop into a astute young man over time -- one whose opinion even you will respect, pubrick. 


©brad

Quote from: JimmyGator on February 06, 2006, 05:56:35 AMhopefully i, too, will develop into a astute young man over time -- one whose opinion even you will respect, pubrick.

dude, he already respects your opinion. read his post again.


Gamblour.

WWPTAD?

Reinhold

don't worry. so's emma watson. it's all good.

so, how about that guy who got eated by the bear?
Quote from: Pas Rap on April 23, 2010, 07:29:06 AM
Obviously what you are doing right now is called (in my upcoming book of psychology at least) validation. I think it's a normal thing to do. People will reply, say anything, and then you're gonna do what you were subconsciently thinking of doing all along.

noyes

I heard the audio of Tim getting eaten.. in my head.
Sounded terrible.
south america's my name.

Reinhold

Quote from: noyes on February 06, 2006, 04:24:46 PM
I heard the audio of Tim getting eaten.. in my head.
Sounded terrible.

when i saw it, i was thinking that it's only a matter of time until some asshole either steals and leaks the real tape or creates a fake leak of it.
Quote from: Pas Rap on April 23, 2010, 07:29:06 AM
Obviously what you are doing right now is called (in my upcoming book of psychology at least) validation. I think it's a normal thing to do. People will reply, say anything, and then you're gonna do what you were subconsciently thinking of doing all along.

Gamblour.

I actually just had a huge discussion with my girlfriend about this movie. She said that she didn't like Herzog's imprint on the film, that he was egocentric, for his narration and the scene where he listens to the tape. The narration, I kinda let that slide, she said he was interfering too much with his musings and ramblings about nature and stuff. I can kinda see that, but I don't agree. However, the scene where he listens to the tape is so necessary. She said that his face being turned away was horrible for the audience because they aren't listening or anything, they're just waiting for something to happen. I said that if he had shown his face, that would have been egotistical. It is only about the listening and Treadwell's old flame and not himself.

Then she said that three of my smart friends turned it off about twenty minutes in because it was "boring." I lost so much respect for them. How can anyone in their right mind say the subject matter of this film was so not compelling that they had to turn it off? This man is so incredible and almost unbelievable. Man, kids these days.
WWPTAD?

Pubrick

Quote from: Gamblour le flambeur on February 07, 2006, 12:32:42 AM
Then she said that three of my smart friends turned it off about twenty minutes in because it was "boring." I lost so much respect for them.
she's turning you against your friends? DTMFA
under the paving stones.

squints

Quote from: Pubrick on February 06, 2006, 04:32:31 AM
Quote from: pete on February 05, 2006, 08:06:47 PM
dude, Jimmygator is like 16 years old, you older dudes should really take it easy on the kid.
i thought squints comment, however vapid, was legitimate. he's known to post his reactions like that. see: "hahahaha"

but u bring up a good point.. so what if he's 16? Hedwig is 16, have you read his recent reviews for Turtles Can Fly and Naked not to mention his general points of argument in any topic? Samsong was 16 when he started posting, and he wrote some of this board's most insightful reviews and comments before succumbing to the devil's weed. chest rockwell too was 16 and developed into a relatively astute young man before our very eyes.

you're gonna have to come up with a better defense than age for your favourite local patron. i don't think he's said anything (exceedingly) embarrassing in this thread, so i hav to assume squints was being serious, but in other cases i think he has been called upon for ignorance that goes way beyond his age.. in many cases by people in similar stages of adolescent development.


I was saying thumbs up to GT's review, i found it rather insightful...sorry Jimmy...the magic of the "quote" has now become clear
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche