Grizzly Man
Filmtheater Fraterhuis, 26022006
Een documentaire van Werner Herzog, die gebruik maakt van origineel gefilmd materiaal van Timothy Treadwell, een born-again natuurman, die 13 zomers doorbrengt in Alaska om 'de Grizzly-beren te beschermen'. In de zomer van 2003 worden de resten van de half opgevreten lichamen van Timothy en z'n vriendin gevonden. Werner probeert door middel van gesprekken met vrienden, familie en mensen die hem vonden te achterhalen wat Timothy's beweegredenen waren om zo in de berenwereld op te gaan.
Ik las op het bbc-messageboard een aantal goede reacties. En omdat ik lui ben (...) knip en plak ik die dingen waar ik het mee eens ben hieronder bijelkaar;)

(by Edward Non Scissorhands)
Both myself and the person I saw it with found the whole thing to be glossed with a typically American insincerity, though maybe this is Herzog's intention. Certainly, he leaves the camera running on [ex-girlfriend] Jewel Palovak's reaction to being presented with Treadwell's watch, and you can clearly see the difference between the "oh my gosh, this is so significant" on-camera reaction and the rather more muted feelings once the "shot" has ended.

Another thing (although this was probably the point) was that Treadwell's exact intentions toward the bears were never clear. At one point we see him film some so-called poachers, but largely he just seems to want to get close to the animals. What was he actually doing? I can't quite work out whether Herzog believed he was actually doing any good.

It was definitely intriguing, and I'll welcome a DVD release with some more contributions from people who actually know what they're talking about, as most of the contributors to the actual film seem to share Treadwell's view that he was some sort of flower-child martyr.

(by Rebecca_Riots)
Some quite amazing footage of the bears and foxes too. Have to admit that I found one or two sequences quite funny, mainly in Treadwell's own footage when he would [...] lapse from the tooth-rotting sweetness of his usual commentary into something more down-to-earth eg when the fox ran off with his hat.

I came away with the view that Treadwell was deluded and confused and I have no idea how he had managed to survive 13 summers running away from reality in bear country. He did not seem to have any idea of the bearness of bears, if that makes any sense.

(by Madamhoney)
I purposefully avoided reading about this film beforehand so when it started and this blonde, effeminate bloke with a voice like a child came on I had to remind myself this was real footage and not some spoof documentary. He was the exact opposite of what you'd expect, and made him seem all the more mad because of it.

He obviously genuinally loved the bears (and foxes - how cute were they?!!) but he was so vain a lot of it was just about himself. [...] It was fascinating and grotesque at times. The people that were interviewed were nearly all as weird as Treadwell.[...]

Okay, toch nog wat eigen woorden: het is mij ook niet duidelijk geworden hoe Timothy nou dacht dat ie de beren beschermde. En het was inderdaad erg lastig om het geheel te zien als echt origineel materiaal en niet een nepdocu. Ik vond dat niet alleen Timothy, maar ook Werner zich schuldig maakte aan pogingen om het publiek te beinvloeden. Zoals Treadwell de beren vermenselijkt, zo geeft Herzog commentaar over de gedachtengang van Timothy, zonder te kunnen verifieren of dat werkelijk was wat in zijn hoofd omging. Maar het is een indrukwekkende film en het verbaast me dat deze niet genomineerd was voor een Oscar. Aanrader.