MovieChat Forums > Grizzly Man (2005) Discussion > Great documentary but Timothy

Great documentary but Timothy


Was a complete imbecile. Had the same level of common sense as that moron who tried to survive in Alaska on rice and dreams.

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I beg to differ with you. Tim Treadwell survived for thirteen summers in the wild camping among Grizzly bears. Christopher McCandless didn't even manage four months before he starved to death on the Stampede Trail. A great read about McCandless is Into the Wild.

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Your comparison with McCandless is apples to oranges. Treadwell was well backed in his summer time campouts. He was never attempting primitive survival. I think you miss the point.

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What they mostly have in common is being fodder to feed the scorn of dull people with capitalist rings through their noses.



You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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^^ Yes! ^^

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I think you people that call the guy and idiot and stop at that are missing the point of the documentary. I think it is clear that he was a overly passionate, disturbed and ill-adjusted man. Some of the most genius personalities have this combination of traits. He was careless and probably adrenaline addicted, I firmly believe that if someone is addicted to anything in his life he is an addict forever. He was addicted to alcohol and drugs once he just changed them for adrenaline. Either way I think his story is sad and tragic but also incredibly deep and inspiring in some ways. I mean if you think about the documentary there are so many arists on which analyze the content. Consider these topics: the schism between human society and nature; the need of humans to cope with an ever more complex modernity while trying to adapt our still latent wild nature to it; the scaping extremes people can look for when they see themselves lost in an alienating society; the almost religious idea that nature and man are in perfect unity, this is something a lot of native people felt and can be seen in their religious rituals and myths since they lived much more than we do in constant interaction with nature; the also amazing transformation of a man into another creature like a bear, we have seen this in feral children but also in natives' rituals and myths from many different cultures with little connection between each other that use drugs and other techniques to become animals themselves; the myths about human transmutation into animals and/or shapeshifters and they are popularly called; the implications about getting closer and become part of something that can destroy you, if you want to know an enemy and battle it you can end up so ingrained in their nature that you become whatever or whoever you're fighting against. This documentary is a glimpse into all these topics and their deep implications, about a man who actually was all of that and more. So to actually just get from all that that he was an idiot is extremely simplistic and a pity. Having so much interesting topics to get out of this and then choose the less rewarding one.

This is not a signature!

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@GuineaPig

What a good post! I agree that his story was sad, inspiring and foolhardy as well as the stuff of the best fiction. No wonder Herzog was drawn to make a film about him. Sadly people on IMDb seem to resort to name calling and hostility more than thought about a film, its subject and/or form. Have you read Among Grizzlies, the book Treadwell wrote in 2001? It's worth reading and his love for the bears makes for powerful writing.

In the midst of winter I found there was, within me, an invincible summer

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My husband and I were actually acquainted with Tim for a bit. He was a waiter at our favorite Indian restaurant in Santa Monica. He'd often come and sit at our table when it was slow. This was when he was just starting to go to Alaska and didn't talk about it much. Later the restaurant closed down and we didn't see him anymore, and then I saw an article in the paper about the "bear man," and I told me husband, hey our waiter is famous. Then we read about his death. In person, or at least at the time we knew him, he didn't act all spacey like he did in the film. He was a little out there, and we had no clue he wasn't really Australian because he always spoke with an accent. LOL RIP Tim

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Now, see that's just nuts. Making up a fake persona? Textbook wacko.

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One of the saddest parts of the film show (via his videos) that as the years went by, you're watching someone who is slowly going insane.

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