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2005, dir. Werner Herzog

Finally saw it.

I will refrain from biasing any of your votes. For now.

I loved it...Herzog's greatest feat was refusing to put the audio tape of the deaths in the film...a tactic that most filmmakers would undoubtedly use for what we say the 'dramatic effect'.

Although I haven't seen Herzog's other work, I am now curious to because of GM.

I cannot wait to see this film. Although I have seen only a fraction of his output, I have yet to see a Herzog film that did not haunt me for days, if not years, afterward.

The best part for me was the main dude, the 'Grizzly man' whatever his name was...he goes on and on about protecting the bears from poachers and how everyone wants to come kill the bears and he must protect them...then they ask one of the local conservation officers and he says 'Poachers? What poachers? There are no poachers up here, in fact there's too many bears as it is!'
The 'Grizzly man' was just a mental goofball who had a hardcore death wish, and the only bad part was his girlfriend was dumb enough to go join him in it...there was nothing noble or beautiful at all about what he was doing, going on and on about how people come and bother the bears and won't let them live in peace....but the thing is, he is the only person I saw bothering the bears and not letting them live in peace.
The movie was enjoyable, better than most bullshit coming out these days anyway.

mattw wrote:I loved it...Herzog's greatest feat was refusing to put the audio tape of the deaths in the film...a tactic that most filmmakers would undoubtedly use for what we say the 'dramatic effect'.

I heard he was thinking of using the footage of the man being eaten, but he listened to the audio track first and it made him sick, therefore he decided not to put it in the film.

mattw wrote:Although I haven't seen Herzog's other work, I am now curious to because of GM.

You've really been missing out. I'd say start with Aguirre, Wrath of God.

same wrote:

mattw wrote:I loved it...Herzog's greatest feat was refusing to put the audio tape of the deaths in the film...a tactic that most filmmakers would undoubtedly use for what we say the 'dramatic effect'.

I heard he was thinking of using the footage of the man being eaten, but he listened to the audio track first and it made him sick, therefore he decided not to put it in the film.

the audio is all the documentation there is--lens cap was (mercifully) left on

i thought his greatest feat was actually recommending to the tape's heir that she destroy it. a filmmaker, a documentarian, an extremist in his way, and he is so moved by a document that he suggests it be destroyed. it was a powerful scene.

he also left out the autopsy pictures. that one brief shot of open bear carcass pretty much does the trick.

mattw wrote:Although I haven't seen Herzog's other work, I am now curious to because of GM.

yeah, you can't really go wrong

watch 'em all

you'll find that he's made a lot of movies that have a lot in common with _grizzly man_ thematically

tmidgett wrote:

same wrote:

mattw wrote:I loved it...Herzog's greatest feat was refusing to put the audio tape of the deaths in the film...a tactic that most filmmakers would undoubtedly use for what we say the 'dramatic effect'.

I heard he was thinking of using the footage of the man being eaten, but he listened to the audio track first and it made him sick, therefore he decided not to put it in the film.

the audio is all the documentation there is--lens cap was (mercifully) left on

thanks for clearing that up. i obviously still need to see it and they don't have it at my local video stores.

did they say whether or not the girlfriend left the lens cap on by accident?

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:Although I have seen only a fraction of his output, I have yet to see a Herzog film that did not haunt me for days, if not years, afterward.

I expect that "Grizzly Man" will continue this trend. It's a movie that you will likely continue to think about.

It was a little disconcerting for me that the unfortunate Mr. Treadwell looked and acted exactly like former Oakland Athletics outfielder Eric Byrnes.

Hopefully this won't be a distraction for you when you watch it.

N/C

I absolutely love this film.

I liked how Herzog drew the audience's attention to more of the "quiet" moments from the tapes (i.e. the foxes). The bear fight was particularly frightening, watching as all that fur floated around in the air as each animal tore into each other.

It was interesting to see how someone like Treadwell tried to make sense of the harsher realities of his environment with the cub paw and the dead fox.

Connor

same wrote:did they say whether or not the girlfriend left the lens cap on by accident?

i think it was sort of by accident

she was too busy trying to keep the bear from eating them to get to it, i guess. it's utterly bizarre that one of them wasn't too busy to turn it on in the first place.

Angus Jung wrote:I expect that "Grizzly Man" will continue this trend. It's a movie that you will likely continue to think about.

the master takeaway from herzog:

"I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder."

i'm with him on the former, at least from the most unvarnished perspective available to me

i can't bring myself to get on board for the last two. just yet.

It was a little disconcerting for me that the unfortunate Mr. Treadwell looked and acted exactly like former Oakland Athletics outfielder Eric Byrnes.

my thoughts exactly

he was like eric byrnes channeling mr. rogers using tiny tim's voice

connor wrote:It was interesting to see how someone like Treadwell tried to make sense of the harsher realities of his environment with the cub paw and the dead fox.

yes. tragic.