Timothy Treadwell was an insane narcissist, who should have been institutionalized before he could kill himself and, sadly, Amy Huguenard. The film provides great footage of grizzlies in their natural habitat and other wild creatures like "Spirit" a red fox who has great personality in an anthropomorphic treatment. The most enduring aspect of the film is the effortless insight into Treadwell, his mental illness, his childish and buffoonish behavior and his delusion that the bears had "accepted" him as one of their community. One can easily see that the grizzlies actually tolerated Treadwell for 13 years until the inevitable happened, and one of Treadwell's friends ate him and Amy.
The film makes an honest-enough effort to unpack Treadwell and his antics while living in the midst of bears on the Aleutian Peninsula. His well-publicized efforts to "save" unprotected Grizzly bears no doubt did much more ecological damage to the species than assistance. Anyone truly loving these creatures would leave them alone in their space on Earth, not name them, anthropomorphize them, and turn them into Hollywood celebrities. At least on of these majestic beings actually gave his life for just doing what grizzlies are subject to do.
Throughout the film Treadway unashamedly shares his little boy's fantasy of being a man-bear, dancing through the high grass, chasing down a "friendly bear" and displaying his unbridled enthusiasm of being in grave danger every minute for four months each summer.
The film uses Treadwell's 1000 hours of filming the Alaskan wilderness to tell the story. The wildlife footage is non-pareil and well-worth the watch. Just be aware that Treadwell used his daring proximity to wild Grizzlies to get better and better shots, as he became more and more famous. His enormous and deluded ego was, no doubt, fed by each year's film, and by the 13th year, he, no doubt was incapable of stopping his self-destructive modus operandi.
Someone should have stopped him, but the Alaskan free spirited culture led men to stand aside expecting a deadly conclusion but allowing it to happen.
The film makes an honest-enough effort to unpack Treadwell and his antics while living in the midst of bears on the Aleutian Peninsula. His well-publicized efforts to "save" unprotected Grizzly bears no doubt did much more ecological damage to the species than assistance. Anyone truly loving these creatures would leave them alone in their space on Earth, not name them, anthropomorphize them, and turn them into Hollywood celebrities. At least on of these majestic beings actually gave his life for just doing what grizzlies are subject to do.
Throughout the film Treadway unashamedly shares his little boy's fantasy of being a man-bear, dancing through the high grass, chasing down a "friendly bear" and displaying his unbridled enthusiasm of being in grave danger every minute for four months each summer.
The film uses Treadwell's 1000 hours of filming the Alaskan wilderness to tell the story. The wildlife footage is non-pareil and well-worth the watch. Just be aware that Treadwell used his daring proximity to wild Grizzlies to get better and better shots, as he became more and more famous. His enormous and deluded ego was, no doubt, fed by each year's film, and by the 13th year, he, no doubt was incapable of stopping his self-destructive modus operandi.
Someone should have stopped him, but the Alaskan free spirited culture led men to stand aside expecting a deadly conclusion but allowing it to happen.