I finally got to see Grizzly Man last night. It really helped to round out the picture of Treadwell that I had from reading his book and the various books written about him after his death. I found some of the interviews a little distracting because the interviewees were so clearly conscious of the camera. I guess I'm used to documentaries and reality tv that work hard to either film people until they forget the camera is there, or else to give the impression that that's the case. So I was a bit put off by some of the scenes, like the one where the coroner gives Treadwell's watch to Jewel Palovak, because the people were so clearly playing for the camera.

The scenes I enjoyed most were the ones containing Treadwell's own footage. Though often clearly laughable, he also had quite a bit of charisma (or, as the tv producer on The Simpsons might say, "Zazz! Zing! Zork! Kapowza! Call it what you want, in any language it spells mazuma in the bank!") His very foolishness had a certain underlying charm, and the scenes of him doing take after take in different bandanas reminded me of the way a 10 year old would borrow the family video camera and "make a movie". He was so serious about it all even while the results were so amateurish.

One thing I especially liked was the way Herzog included scenes of Treadwell and Timmy the Fox. When the movie started out with Treadwell talking to the bears in a singsong voice and saying that he loved them, I think most people in the theater (me included) were thinking, "what a freak! Here's someone who clearly doesn't understand that you don't treat animals like people!" Then, as we watch Treadwell talking to the foxes, we realize that the way he talks to them is hardly any different than the way we speak to our own dogs and cats at home. In this way, we find that Treadwell is maybe just at the far end of a spectrum that we all participate in, and our own behavior becomes complicit in creating the anthropomorphic world view that Treadwell fell prey to.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend you check it out on DVD.