Grizzly Man

I said recently to someone that I like movies that make you do some of the work or that at least provoke your imagination. I am not entertained by just watching someone else's vision of the world. I don't think I factored into that notion that not everyone watching a movie would be doing the same kind of work.

I came face to face with the ramification of this many views of a movie after watching Grizzly Man.

I was dying to see this movie when it came out but somehow never made it to the theater. When it came out on dvd, I decided to add it to my netflix list. I don't watch nearly enough movies, even with netflix. I mean, I have the four per month only and some months I don't get to four. In any case, when Grizzly Man showed up in my mailbox the other day, I was really looking forward to seeing it.

I invited some friends to watch it with me and this is how I realized that we were not all watching the same movie, emotionally.

Here's my version:
The Grizzly Man is a wild man, almost not human creature. He lives in his own world, one where he is one with the bears and other wild animals. For instance, he sees a Grizzly Bear charging him and instead of playing dead as is the internationally accepted way to deal with this situation, he charges the bear!! So, he goes and spends the summers with the bears.

To me, this seems like the only appropriate way for someone like Timothy Treadwell to live. And when the grizzly bear eats him (and his female companion) it seems like the most appropriate way for him to die. He's in his forties; how much longer can he expect to be able to live in the wild with the bears? He probably had ten more years, but his way of dealing with the bears requires more than sprightliness; it requires braun and it's not clear how much longer he could appear as strong as he needs to be to challenge the bears.

Ok, I don't think that it was the female companion's most appropriate way to die. But, I figure it is the price of this summer adventure. It's not like she didn't know what he was going to do out there. She stayed when he decided to be out there longer than he usually stayed. Bottom line, you can't go out and live with the bears and expect safety. For that kind of wild experience, you pitch a tent at the zoo. I don't mean to be flip, but that is how I see it.

My final analysis of this piece is it is the life of a crazy man on his terms. I am thrilled for him. There are so many people who never get to live on their own terms. How many people actually get to live out their dream?? Ok, so this dream is pretty crazy, but he got to live it. He is living that Frank Sinatra song that is the mantra of so many repressed folks.

My friend's reaction to the movie was that it made her feel a tremendous sense of loss. That is was horrible for the two of them to be murdered by the bear. That it was especially unfair for the woman to die given that she was trying to be with the love of her life.

I had to back up right there because I don't remember anyone mentioning that these two had a fabulous relationship. In fact, my take was that they had just been together for a while before she decided to come along to bear country. I mean, let's be clear, he spend every summer in the wild, so how much time did he really have to be finding the love of his life? And, he actually spends a fair amount of time in the movie talking about how hard relationships with women had been for him. Not to mention the most obvious problem with this thesis, he doesn't consider himself a man, he considers himself a GRIZZLY man. He is not dealing with reality on a regular basis.

So, both of us were projecting a fair amount in our analysis of this one movie! WILD... I love it. Loved the movie. I invite you to see it and share your response.