Grizzly Man Thoughts

I am still unsure of how I really feel about the movie Grizzly Man. The slightly immature part of me dislike the director Herzog from the short article we read where he criticized Disney. After watching the movie I found many other reasons to dislike him as well. The entire film was a mockery of Timothy Treadwell and the interpretation of his work that Treadwell could obviously have no input on. It is clear that Treadwell had psychological issues but to be made fun of for everyone to see after he is dead is cruel and unfair. The most annoying part of it was that Herzog pretended to have respect for him, but I did not buy it at all.
After a hard life including battles with alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and evidence of being bipolar, Treadwell needed to find something positive to focus on. When Grizzly bears came into his life, I think he put all his energy into them in order to no focus on his other issues. I am guessing he found kinship with the bears because they could not judge him he finally felt important by being their protector. What he actually did to protect them I still do not understand, but he got to do what he truly loved up until the very end. I think Treadwell knew the possibility of getting killed. Although he viewed the creatures as his friend he discussed the high risk factor. But to him it was worth it.
As for Herzog, I'm not sure if he set out to make a comedy but that is what he accomplished. Of the hundreds of hours of film he had of Treadwell, he used the most erratic and strange footage. I know I laughed, but I felt a little uneasy while doing so laughing at the life and passion of a dead man. I also fully believe that if Treadwell had simply had a lower voice, people would take him much more seriously. I found the description of the audio tape of Treadwell's death disturbing, but the scene where Herzog listens and then tells the friend to destroy it was extremely fake. I thought it seemed obviously staged and cheesy. Even when the coroner was describing the death, Herzog found a way to make it oddly funny. With the close up on the strange facial expressions and then the long pause at the end, it was so awkward it made everyone laugh. I can't imagine a reason the director would do this other than to make it funny, which I don't think he should have done when the death of a man was being discussed.
I enjoyed the film a lot and found it interesting and funny, but I think it was wrong for Herzog to take Treadwell's own film and then make a movie mocking it and listing the reasons why his film making was not good enough. Timothy Treadwell's life came to a sad end, but he was doing what he wanted to do for the rest of his life and new the possibilities of danger. I do not think the bears thought of him as a friend, but the fact that he lived with them for thirteen summers says something. They may not have cared for him in the way he did for them, but I do not think he could have survived that long if they truly wanted to eat him. I think they acknowledged his and let him be, and it was only when the unfamiliar bears arrived that he was eaten. I think the film Grizzly Man showed a man who had lifelong issues and desperately needed to feel important. He did not harm the bears, so I guess we really cannot fault him for finding the place he believed he belonged, no matter how strange or dangerous it was. I think Herzog looked like the bigger idiot by criticizing Treadwell and showing many of his embarrassing moments after he was gone. At least Treadwell died doing what he loved and his ashes can remain with the bears forever.