Typically, nature documentaries romanticize their animal subjects, which is not surprising considering their makers intend to emphasize the natural beauty inherent in many wildlife practices. The recent Oscar nominee \Winged Migration"" and especially this summer's smash hit, ""March of the Penguins,"" humanized their beaked stars, the latter going so far as to suggest evidence of unconditional parental love in the penguins' grueling, titular march.
Controversial director Werner Herzog does not subscribe to this school of thought, which makes his ""Grizzly Man"" so compelling.
""Grizzly"" explores the life and death of notorious environmentalist Timothy Treadwell, but Herzog bypasses the romanticism of nature and focuses on the critical line between man and the wilderness which man may never wholly understand.
Treadwell filmed the final five of his expeditions to Alaskan bear country, and his selected footage, mixed in with interviews with friends and enemies, makes up the bulk of the film.
Herzog's selection of scenes and intermittent narrations bear witness to Treadwell's changes in personality-one minute he is as giddy as a child, excitedly sticking his hand in bear scat, and the next he angrily chases after a fox that stole his hat.
This film is about Treadwell's life and death, and Herzog discloses these hard facts early on in the film. He shows this when he journeys to the site where Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were gruesomely killed. At this point, Herzog adds numerous details of their gory demise.
The rest of the film examines Treadwell's life, including the factors that ultimately led to his decision to venture out to Alaska every summer. Treadwell's complicated nature brought forth many contradictions-while he craved the limelight, he had a slew of personal and social hang-ups-and Herzog provides no easy answers to the questions he raises.
Herzog does, however, announce and pinpoint his bias at the forefront, bluntly stating that he disagrees with Treadwell's optimistic, harmonious world view, instead regarding the world as a place of ""hostility, murder and chaos."" Herzog also seems determined to demystify the grizzlies' mystique by stating that he only sees a ""half-bored interest in food"" in a bear's gaze, not the kinship Treadwell perpetually sought.
Herzog keeps things strictly subtle and ambiguous, balancing the excerpts of Treadwell being off his rocker with clips of him convincingly enthralled and mystified by nature and its creatures. Herzog often highlights this dichotomy in opinion regarding Treadwell by placing extremely contrasting accounts from ex-friends and gruff park officials-one who even coldly states, ""He got what he wanted, he got what he deserved.""
The experience is enough to cause a constant flip-flopping of impressions of Treadwell throughout, and Herzog remains remarkably objective in between his thickly accented voice overs.
If ""Grizzly Man"" is a challenging portrait of an oddball genius/madman, Herzog tempers this exploration of Treadwell's psyche and motivations with moments of lyrical beauty. It is a peculiar documentary in terms of style, as it is, essentially, a mishmash of talking heads, clips and Treadwell's own documentary within a documentary. In fact, the film could accurately be described as Herzog's interpretation of Treadwell's life, with his own footage as serving as the most vital evidence.
""Grizzly Man"" is brilliant and transcendent, managing to be absurdly funny, disconcerting, intriguing and puzzling while playfully manipulating and subverting our expectations. It is an audacious, ambitious piece of work that illustrates just how engrossing a documentary can be.
