There is a poetic assigning of meaning at every turn, almost ignoring a statement in the middle of the film that Treadwell didn't "realize that seemingly empty moments had a strange, secret beauty." Or, from the last scene of the film: "Out of all the bears we see, only in this one do I not see reflection only the indifference of nature."
Thursday, April 15, 2010
people in Grizzly Bear Costumes
Herzog's ongoing VO commentary resides somewhere between an intense interest in reality and a (contemporary) concern for intersubjectivity. Through this odd (read: not usual in doc) blend he both challenges the importance of the documentary (form) while still maintaining an interest in the real.
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While watching Grizzly Man I felt a lot of correlation between it and my paper topic idea of ecstatic truth. Where Herzog feels that emotional accuracy is more import to portray in a doc rather than detailed-oriented accuracy, and in this documentary I feel like he does just that. With the scene of the pilot finding the 'grizzly' remains of his friend there seems to be a crescendo effect of gnats in frame with an increase in the volume of their buzzing as the story comes to its climax. Whether this was put in during post doesn't really mater to Herzog because he is more interested in portraying the tension the pilot was feeling at the time rather than what is going on while he is telling the story.
ReplyDeleteThis is Nesha Thompson. In Grizzly man, Herzog gave two different perspectives. He allowed the viewers to view the story from his point of view by adding the voiceovers. The viewer saw the movie through the grizzly man's point of view when the footage was shown of him directly talking to the camera in the footage intended for his own documentary. I thought this was very smart and creative. Usually documentaries are shown from one point of view. Since the Grizzly man ended up dying, this gave Herzog the opportunity to be creative in this way. I liked this because it allowed me to step into the life of the Grizzly man as well as hear what Herzog's opinion was on the situation.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Herzog's voiceover, I thought the choice of showing the complexity of Treadwell's character at the end of the film to be an interesting one. Except for a few interviews, the film is dominated mostly by the dialogue of both Treadwell and Herzog. Toward the end of the film, however, Herzog almost seems to begin to berate Treadwell stating that he only "has mockery and contempt for the world." The effect of this, on the viewer, is to place more attention and emphasis on what Herzog is saying himself. The fact that the film concludes mostly with Herzog's dialogue strengthens this claim. I am then left to wonder how much of this film is actually telling the story of Treadwell versus telling the story of how Herzog sees the story of Treadwell.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tyler...Herzog is interesting in he seems to have an innate gift of making everything about himself even when his documentary subject is a man who outcasts himself to live with grizzly bears. Herzog never allows the viewer to really see Treadwell's "story" in the sense the film depicts Herzog listening to the audio of the attack, but the viewer does not get to listen to the audio itself. The viewers are left with Herzog's interpretation of Treadwell. Obviously when Treadwell made these videos he did not think of himself as crazy or off, but he really seems to believe in his cause, but throughout the documentary the image you get of him through Herzog's voiceovers is that Treadwell was a bit off in the head.
ReplyDeleteGrizzly Man seems to tell two pieces of narrative. Herzog’s voice over looks at Treadwell’s life in the wild. In some cases he tries to simple show Treadwell’s life and the people who meant something to him. Other cases his voice over is giving his own judgments as to what he thinks Treadwell is doing. Because of the two dynamics of how Treadwell is portrayed in the documentary does make the film more intense. There is a scene where Herzog is listening to the footage of Treadwell’s death. The audience is not able to hear what is being done by the bear, only the reaction of Herzog. The ways in which Treadwell’s footage is placed together offers a sad portrayal of the thing he wanted to protect the most was the very thing that killed him. This is why I think it was important to have Herzog’s voice over in the film.
ReplyDeleteNicole White
I found the most interesting thing in this film to be the layering of narrative voices.On the surface there appears to be only Herzog and Treadwell's narratives. But, as the film unfolds, the audience begins to see both the narrative that Treadwell is preparing for his unmade show as well as the narrating voice of Herzog that accompanies the documentary. Both narratives then split again, revealing the narrative of the solo footage that Treadwell most likely did not intend to release. It also reveals Herzog in human form, with a slightly different demeanor from the one of the film's voice-overs. The voices of the two main subjects, Treadwell and Herzog, play against one another, creating a back-and-forth of revealing and withholding information to the audience. This flow of information is what makes the over-all narrative of the film intriguing.
ReplyDeleteThe following is actually from Sarah G.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Grizzly Man did a marvelous job of illustrating the invisible line between man and nature. In fact, I found the tragedy of the film to be Treadwell’s complete and utter ignorance of this fundamental truth. He thought he was capable of becoming one with the bears, and he treated them as I would treat a puppy or a kitten. Treadwell did not learn until it was too late that it is simply not possible to cross that line. By the time the film ended, I no longer possessed any illusions about the true nature of wild animals—like Herzog, I saw only the “overwhelming indifference” of nature.
Grizzly Man uses two narratives to tell the story of Treadwell’s death. We get the who, what, where, and why from Herzog. Layered in between we get the why from Treadwell. Using Treadwell’s footage, we see what he was about and the passion he had to drive his cause. Treadwell’s out takes go even farther showing us what kind of person he really was and how he felt below the surface. Treadwell’s extremity separated him from other people, yet he could never be like the grizzle. Knowing this, Herog brings his own persona into the film taunting and picking fun at Treadwell. Though he is not alone, it tips the balance of the documentary leaving the audience entertained.
ReplyDeleteThe aspect that I love and embrace the most about the Grizzly man documentary, is the fact that about 80% of the footage was pure, raw footage. I love the manner in which Treadwell shot the footage. I felt like I was there in the field with the bears and the foxes. I appreciated that fact that I saw 100 percent Grizzly man. I saw his breakdowns. I saw his tears, and I felt his passion. I took a journey with hi m at a distance yet I knew his ineer most thoughts. It appeared that Treadwell put much thought into camera placement as well. He always chose the best angle to convey the message or perspective that he was trying to get across to his audience. One thing that I can say about this documentary that I can be almost certain about is that it embraced truth.. The camera doesn't lie..what you vsaw is what it was. Raw yet real. awesomeness!
ReplyDeletegrizzly man represents a documentary remix. changed from its original concept as a wildness documentary that shows Treadwell not as a strong outdoors explore who has no fear but as a regular man who feels more fear for the modern world than for alaskan outback. Herzog's in this way has created a more accurate composition of Treadwell, then he himself could have done and provided a intriguing into the life of a interesting man
ReplyDeleteThe method in which Herzog composed Grizzly Man creates most of the tension between Treadwell's actions and the behavior of the bears. The movie is very similar to the Blair Witch Project where the outcome is known early on, but the draw of the narrative comes from analyzing the lost footage. Watching Treadwell interact with the bears knowing he was going to be mauled is a hard thing to do, but Herzog interprets the relationship between man and nature in order to help the audience understand the boundaries Treadwell was crossing. The film becomes less about Treadwell and more about the nonbias of nature who could not realize the intentions of the bear-enthusiast.
ReplyDeleteMartin
I dont know how many blog submissions that i have but Grizzly man had to be written about. Tim Treadwell is made out to be less of a Saviour of the bears and more of a man looking for his chance to be famous. Herzog doesn't seem to have much sympathy towards him and in his narration of the film really questions Treadwell's time out in the wild. I feel like without his voice in the back round explaining what was going on and even adding with his own comments, the film would have just been a Discovery channel special, rather than a great film. With that being said i transition to the the memory of Treadwell. Does this film hurt or help his life's work? He wanted so badly to tell people not to fear the bears and to respect them but at the end he's life was taken by the things he loved. Plus the one that killed him met his match to some men and some guns. I know that he survived the bears for years but was killed at the end, so if he can't survive from the bears than how can we?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Richard on some points. Mainly in that Treadwell is cast in a light that he might not have envisioned. However, I don't really think he was made to look like he wanted fame. I do feel though, that he was made to look like some what of a jackass. There were many points in the film where Herzog (which translates to Duke in German) made sure to point out certain facts after Treadwell finished speaking. I am refering specifically to the point where Treadnotsowell said that he was protecting the bears from poachers and Duke's voiceover broke in to let his viewers know that these bears wee in no trouble whatsoever and in fact were protected by one of the worlds most powerful, albeit corrupt, governments. That one voiceover in and of itself is powerfull in that it makes Treadwell and his efforts look worthless. How good or bad Herzog's decisions may have been I won't debate. What I will say however, is that this is an amazing film.
ReplyDeleteTo have Herzog's extremely German voiceover accompany Treadwell's enthusiastic and at times silly dialogue proved to be an excellent and entertaining match in this documentary. I couldn't help but think throughout the film how Treadwell's film would have been if he was able to complete it himself and also how Treadwell would have felt about Herzog's version of the film. Although Treadwell comes off as extremely goofy and annoying at times, I think Herzog had no part in emphasizing it for the film. In fact, the part of the film in which Timothy goes on an explicit rant Herzog's v.o. interrupts to almost save him from further embarassment. The way viewpoints were juxtaposed in this film were amazing and unlike anything I've ever seen before.
ReplyDeleteBrad Riddell
Keisha-In the film "Grizzly Man", I feel as though Treadwell's aim was to connect with the bears he explored on a personal level; something that may have been a lifelong dream/goal of his. In the article we were given for this film, Norbert Wiener stated that "humans, animals, and machines, can all be modeled and understood in the same manner and according to the same principles." Because the article also mentioned that Treadwell had been in some ways or others "rejected" from society (human), he decided to seek acceptance in another, more natural one. I kept thinking of various Shakespearean tragedies toward the end because we all basically knew he would be killed by the very thing he loved. I agree this film has its poetic moments. It was also very intense and I enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong to reach out directly and touch nature? Can man and nature “bond like children of the universe”? Or does our dissimilation make our attempts at reconnection impossible?
ReplyDeleteProfoundly sad and beautiful, what grabs the most is the “inexplicable magic of cinema”. The blowing of long grass in the wind, moments of happy surprises seen only through the lens. In Treadwell’s attempts at finding direction and meaning he seems to have, in his final moments of life, achieved seriousness to his work. I can’t help but be touched, despite the potential exploitation of ones privacy to tell a seemingly more complex story than the passion for Bears in there natural habitat. But then again Tredwell is the story not the animals that helped to bring him fame.