throughout his entire life, and director Werner Herzog has
transformed the man's idiosyncracies and contradictions into the
year's most fascinating film.
For 13 summers, Treadwell visited Alaskan bears in their natural
habitat in order to study, befriend, and "save" them. Bringing
along a camcorder in order to narrate his adventures and capture
his ursine pals, foxes, and other wildlife in their natural state,
Treadwell and his girlfriend were eventually mauled to death during
their final stay in the wilderness.
Like the best documentaries of Errol Morris, Herzog lets his interview
subjects explain themselves away with minimal onscreen cutting.
An unerringly forthright coroner, a folksy drop-off pilot, and an
emotional former girlfriend who knew Treadwell the best give their
takes on why this erratic man risked his life -- and sanity -- on what
most would consider a fool's errand.
The bulk of the film, however, lies in Treadwell's video recordings.
We see him pet a baby fox as if it were a golden retriever; he
catches the full glory of two bears fighting beside a stream; he
screams to God to cast rain down on the forest; from time to time
the grizzlies even make small amounts of physical contact with him.
Treadwell gives the bears names like Wendy, Satin, and Mr.
Chocolate.
Almost as important is Treadwell's constant onscreen commentary,
with the naturalist aiming the camera squarely at his own face. It is
here where the complexities of his persona stir with the public
image he had tried so long to uphold. He was a former alcoholic,
but was he mentally unstable? Why did he think he was the sole
protector of the bears? Why did he create stories about himself for
the people he met along the way? He delves into his relationship
problems, failures in life, and past addictions in monologues that
are as spontaneous as they are revealing.
In one especially moving portion of Herzog's narration, the director
describes how Treadwell often unknowingly captured beautiful
images that even the most experienced Discovery Channel crew
would miss: A fox's feet tapping on his tent, the breeze blowing
through a tree-lined path, the majesty of a bee dying mid-nectar
grab. In much the same way, Treadwell left behind a document
that illuminates so much about him and the nature of his bears that
he probably never expected or intended.
