Andrew L. wrote:I definitely experienced a few chills thinking back to my own bear encounters.

You can't just leave it at that. You just can't.

Please elaborate.

sunlore wrote:

Andrew L. wrote:
I definitely experienced a few chills thinking back to my own bear encounters.

You can't just leave it at that. You just can't.

Please elaborate.

There's not much to tell. I've spent 5 summers in the bush (northern BC) working as a treeplanter. You find yourself in the middle of nowhere and in close proximity to bears quite regularly. Last year I completely lost count of how many black bears I saw. They were everywhere.

Notable encounters:

-- bluff-charged by a black bear on a logging road (it stopped and turned about 50 meters from me; I stood my ground)

-- black bear crawls through window of empty truck to eat foreman's lunch (alerts us to this fact by leaning on the horn with its ass)

-- awoken by sound of insane shouting in French and barking dogs 20 feet away as a black bear is chased out of camp after trampling my neighbour's tent

-- stuck at the bottom of a wickedly steep and slashy (stacks of intersecting fallen trees) cutblock waiting for a grizzly to mosey on. This was my closest encounter with a grizzly. Very cool. It wasn't scary as the grizzly knew I was there, didn't seem to have cubs, and didn't seem to care about me.

I've seen two white grizzlies at a distance, too.

Andrew L. wrote:

sunlore wrote:

Andrew L. wrote:
I definitely experienced a few chills thinking back to my own bear encounters.

You can't just leave it at that. You just can't.

Please elaborate.

There's not much to tell. I've spent 5 summers in the bush (northern BC) working as a treeplanter. You find yourself in the middle of nowhere and in close proximity to bears quite regularly. Last year I completely lost count of how many black bears I saw. They were everywhere.

Notable encounters:

-- bluff-charged by a black bear on a logging road (it stopped and turned about 50 meters from me; I stood my ground)

-- black bear crawls through window of empty truck to eat foreman's lunch (alerts us to this fact by leaning on the horn with its ass)

-- awoken by sound of insane shouting in French and barking dogs 20 feet away as a black bear is chased out of camp after trampling my neighbour's tent

-- stuck at the bottom of a wickedly steep and slashy (stacks of intersecting fallen trees) cutblock waiting for a grizzly to mosey on. This was my closest encounter with a grizzly. Very cool. It wasn't scary as the grizzly knew I was there, didn't seem to have cubs, and didn't seem to care about me.

I've seen two white grizzlies at a distance, too.

Andrew, it's times like these that I'm fairly certain you are Indiana Jones.

I wouldn't be surprised if you had also punched a Nazi in your lifetime.

i was once walking down a road with some friends when i was 12 or 13 and a black bear was walking parallel to us in the woods. we momentarily freaked out and stood still, waited for it to get in ahead of us and then cross the road once it was at a considerable distance in front of us, and then we went on our way.

on that same walk i saw a turtle that had been hit by a car. i'll never forget that image. it was pretty cool!

Andrew L. wrote:Did no one else think that some of Herzog's narration was trite and predictable at times? The bit about the striated glacial/ice formations mapping Treadwell's soul?

That would be my one (very minor) complaint about the film. There was a slight overlay of 'this is a Werner Herzog film' with the narration, but I didn't feel that it distracted from the whole.

I thought it interesting that Herzog's verdict on Treadwell was very similar to his observations on Klaus Kinksi in My Best Fiend. There's a good bit in that documentary where he accuses Kinski of having insidious ideas about nature and delivers a monologue to camera, on the set of Aguirre, about how he sees nature (the jungle):

If I believed in the devil, I would say the devil is right here. The jungle means fornication and asphyxiation and fighting for survival and growing and rotting away...an overwhelming lack of order—even the stars up here look like a mess...There is some sort of harmony: it is the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder.

Andrew L. wrote:
For anyone interested in bear attacks, I highly recommend Stephen Herrero's definitive book on the subject.

Oh, me too.

I have read this book a few times. It was a very popular tour book in the Silkworm van.

It is fascinating. Well-written. Authoritative. And full of enough gruesome case studies to keep it moving.

Cranius wrote:I thought it interesting that Herzog's verdict on Treadwell was very similar to his observations on Klaus Kinksi in My Best Fiend. There's a good bit in that documentary where he accuses Kinski of having insidious ideas about nature and delivers a monologue to camera, on the set of Aguirre, about how he sees nature (the jungle):

If I believed in the devil, I would say the devil is right here. The jungle means fornication and asphyxiation and fighting for survival and growing and rotting away...an overwhelming lack of order—even the stars up here look like a mess...There is some sort of harmony: it is the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder.

Yeah, and this scene is also included in "Burden Of Dreams."

So you have several different opportunities to get this point delivered to you from Werner Herzog.

Cranius, you are right on to make the connection between this and "Grizzly Man."

full point wrote:Just saw it last night.

Great movie.

Was it me or did everyone in that movie seem a bit odd?

The coroner, Tim's ex-girlfriend, his parents..........

They all seemed to have strange "Kubrick-ian" quirks that almost seemed scripted. (I realize they weren't but, man.....so strange).

I think Tim knew that the longer he "coexisted" with the bears his luck would eventually run out. I think the real world was too much for him and his staying in the maze longer than normal was just a gamble he took on death. Seems like the summers he was there before he seemed aware that the odds were in his favor. The last one seemed to have the odds stacked in death's favor. And he knew it.

Not crap.

If I didn't know the story, and the bears were a little more fake looking, I would have thought it was a new Christopher Guest movie.
I liked it when Sgt. Brown went #2 though.

Andrew L. wrote:Did no one else think that some of Herzog's narration was trite and predictable at times? The bit about the striated glacial/ice formations mapping Treadwell's soul? Lame.

(still haven't mastered the quote thing- ahhh!!)

That part almost blew the film for me! We were all thinking that as the shot started, but his need to throw in the voiceover made me feel like I was watching a Pepsi-generation commercial.

Treadwell was indeed odd (and super effeminate) but was he as crazy as the footage Herzog choose to show? I was left feeling almost like Herzog was "milking" the crazy loner aspect, wanting us to see Treadwell as a character in one of his written films. If I was alone, or even in the company of one person, would I not film myself acting out personal demons in order to keep some sanity?

These aren't slams against the film, it's point or Herzog - just prodding.
I loved the movie, but maybe a it's little too manipulative?

Aguirre is almost as cool as Timmy the Fox

greg wrote:If I didn't know the story, and the bears were a little more fake looking, I would have thought it was a new Christopher Guest movie.

The only thing that kept me from where you are was the foxes.

"I love you."