Grizzly Man
I decided to watch Grizzly Man recently. It is a documentary film on
Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell spent 13 summers in the Alaskan wilderness
developing what he believed to be strong, personal relationships with bears.
He never took a gun or any other form of protection and spent the entire
time completely alone (aside from his last 2 visits). It was during his
last visit that he, and his girlfriend were attacked and killed by the very
bears they studied. The attack was recorded on their video camera - audio
only, the lens cap was never removed.
Overall, this film was boring and poorly crafted. If Treadwell was more
concerned about raising awareness of the bears vs. himself, then I don't
imagine he would have liked this film either. Also, honestly, Timothy
Treadwell came across as rather unlikable in this documentary. I don't know
what he was like in real-life, but in this film, the clips shown illustrate
him into this egomaniac who is more self-absorbed than self-aware. Though
the director tried to show Treadwells evolution into who he was, it felt
hollow. If anyone has an interest in Treadwell and his experiences with the
grizzlies, I would recommend watching the discovery channel or searching the
internet. Either way, I would avoid Grizzly Man. I would have to giveGrizzly Man a grade of C-.
Grade breakdown as follows:
Story: B. Being from Alaska, I found the story of Timothy Treadwell
fascinating.
Visuals: B. The clips of Treadwells footage was very interesting, but I
question the intent behind the clips that were used.
Enjoyability grade: C. It felt more like a persuasive argument than an
impartial documentary film about an animal rights activist.
Overall grade: C-. I was too distracted by the forced direction of the
clips and interviews to be able to focus completely on the story itself.
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