Crush...Yiff...Destroy!

Guido · Rasophore Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 68

This new documentary by Werner Herzog is an astonishing portrait of Tim Treadwell, who like many of Herzog's subjects is possessed of a serene ecstasy that forces him to go too far, try too much, risk his life in his search for the sublime.

You read about Treadwell in the papers, or maybe you saw him on “Letterman.” He's the guy with the Viking haircut who spent 13 summers in Alaska living with grizzly bears. He spoke their language, he said, and knew their moods, and survived unarmed among them. But in the autumn of 2003 the communication broke down, and Treadwell and his girl friend were killed and eaten by a bear -- a bear he didn't much like.

Herzog, a great filmmaker, doesn't simply tell this story but transcends it, engaging in a debate with the dead man over the nature of Nature. Treadwell thinks Nature is harmonious. Herzog says he thinks it is made of "chaos, hostility and murder." When Treadwell looks into a bear's eyes, he sees a friend. Herzog sees a wild animal, curious and possibly hungry.

Treadwell got a video camera in 1999, and left behind 80 hours of extraordinary footage taken in the wilderness. The footage includes shots taken hours before his death, at the place where his bones were found, and shots of the bear that would eat him. He comes across as an engaging, exuberantly childish man who talks to the animals as if they were children, and dramatizes his own mission and the constant danger he says (accurately) surrounds him. Herzog talks to his friends, former lovers and partners, to the pilot who dropped him off and found his remains, and the coroner who opened up the bear.

"Grizzly Man" is chaotic, hostile, deadly, harmonious, and brilliant.

-- Roger Ebert, reporting from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival

I haven't seen this yet, but it has all the makings of a good, cautionary tale for furries along with such films as Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures". Fuck, he even dragged his girlfriend along. Ask any of the three females at a furry con if they can relate.

Nonetheless, I'm looking foward to this and anything new by Herzog that doesn't suck... I'm allready pissed beyond measure from seeing "Last Days" and otherwise this has been a shitty year for movies.

AlbinoHagfish · Prattler Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 199

Hahaha. Talking to animals as if they were children, eh? Bears are smarter than that. Humans are hairless, clawless, fangless, and so pathetically slow. I'm surprised it took so very long for him to die. He was practically giftwrapping his fleshy human form. Tsk.

Goofy · Vociferator Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 311

He reminds me of...

Lim-Dul · Coadjutor Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 73

Tim Treadwell reminds me of...

Troggler · Venter Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 246

All of these guys remind me of...

SkunkDogFromSpace · Venter Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 222

All of these guys remind me of..

i'm laughing my ass off right now.. oh man..

We should make furries watch that film like they made the main character in the "Clockwork orange" to watch the films :twisted:

baserock love · Vociferator Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Posts: 685

Hahaha. Talking to animals as if they were children, eh? Bears are smarter than that. Humans are hairless, clawless, fangless, and so pathetically slow. I'm surprised it took so very long for him to die. He was practically giftwrapping his fleshy human form. Tsk.

Yeah, teh humanes suck! Wtf is this shit?

But anyway, too bad he wasn't a furry and into vore :lol:

AlbinoHagfish · Prattler Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 199

Yeah, teh humanes suck! Wtf is this shit?

Dude, my point went flying over your head. I was saying that in his complete desire to be accepted by the bears, he forgot that he was NOT one of them, horribly ill-equipped to be out in the wildnerness, and didn't pack a weapon like any sane person would do. I never said humans suck. I said from a bear's point of veiw, we're delicious and easily caught. To be human is to accept one's natural flaws and compensate for them, i.e. amping up physical defense with tools.

Beauty of Nature · Prattler Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 178

Animal behaviour can not be predicted.
He took a risk and payed for it.
With his raw behind and life.
Bears stay on distance most of the time but one day it can go horribly wrong.
It is quite easy to underestimate the danger.

AlbinoHagfish · Prattler Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 199

Animal behaviour can not be predicted.
He took a risk and payed for it.
With his raw behind and life.
Bears stay on distance most of the time but one day it can go horribly wrong.
It is quite easy to underestimate the danger.

That reminds me of one of those quasi-poems I see people on DA write.