Lost a little respect for Werner Herzog when...

Actually I wish Herzog had played the audio in the documentary.

I understand where you're coming from but I think the film needs a scene like that. It really hits home the horrific reality of his death without going so far as to show it or the audio. And I think Werner has every reason to listen to it if Jewel gave her permission. I highly doubt he did it for enjoyment.

An interview where he talks about that scene:

Looming over the film is not only the horror of Treadwell’s demise but also an audio recording of the tragedy, taped inadvertently by the video camera in Treadwell’s tent. Herzog tastefully omits it from the film, but he makes the viewer aware of its existence.

“The question of the tape which recorded Timothy Treadwell’s death and Amie Huguenard’s death is something that I had to address,” Herzog says. “So I listened to it, and that’s the only time I appear in the film. You only see me from behind, listening to it with earphones. The interesting thing is that Jewel Palovak who was working with Treadwell and living with Treadwell for 20 years tries to read my face, and it’s very, very intense and moving for her. The moment I heard the tape it was instantly clear: Only over my dead body is this tape going to end up in the movie. I’m not into doing a snuΩ film, and I have to respect the dignity and privacy of two individuals’ deaths.”

In the film, Herzog encourages Palovak to destroy the tape. “Yes, but that was stupid,” Herzog says now. “Silly advice born out of the immediate shock of hearing—I mean, it’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Being shocked like that, I told her, ‘You should never listen to it, and you should rather destroy it. It should not be sitting on your shelf in your living room all the time.’ [But] she slept over it and decided to do something much wiser. She did not destroy it but separated herself from the tape, and she put it in a bank vault.”

In the cool light of day, Herzog cannot bear the thought of destroying a recording that evokes a response from its audience. But playing the recording is another matter. Grizzly Man—and nearly all of the films Herzog has made over the last four decades—show where his interests lie: not in the horrifying acts themselves, which rarely appear, but in the knowledge that they happen; not in the bolt of lightning that strikes at our hearts, but in the slow rumble buried within dark clouds.

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I felt the same way about that moment for the same reasons. When I saw the title of your post, I figured it would be about that moment. I thought it was unnecessary, innappropriate, and, yes, exploitative. I'm not sure what Herzog was trying to accomplish by including that and particularly what was the purpose of listening to it right in front of Treadwell's friend.

All this machine does is swim, and eat, and make little sharks. -- Matt Hooper, JAWS

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Interesting. I actually thought Herzog showed taste and respect by (a) not including the actual horrific audio to be released as part of his film; and (b)exhorting the woman to destroy it.

Filming her reaction to him listening was an effective way to reveal to the viewers the horror of the situation, and the humanity, without having to have us listen to it. After all, the film is not necessarily supposed to be an homage to Treadwell or his friends; WE are Herzog's audience. He showed us the horror of the tape, by silently listening to it in real time, while urging the friend to destroy it. Very effective move for the filmmaker.


To simply say, "There is an audiotape of the woman screaming and Treadwell moaning" and leave it at would be to avoid the power of that tape. How does a director show the power of the tape, yet have the restraint not to actually air it?

A lesser filmmaker would probably not find the powerful strategy Herzog did. He shows why he is a master of film. In fact, I believe most filmmakers would play the audio for us, the friend being irrelevant and out of the picture.

Then what would you say about their "taste"?

I agree with your summation completely. I found this entire film very annoying and Herzog himself the worst of the lot. However I completely disagree with your compassion for Jewel. To me she appeared to be a sad pathetic woman who used this as her moment to shine. I felt very sorry for her and the rest of the bad "actors" within this monumental ode to delusion.