Saturday, January 05, 2008

The Jokes On Me?



Potential Spoilers!!! For movie Grizzly Man


You know what? I was reading the comments in my last post about the movie Grizzly Man and Red said that she heard that a double bill of Into The Wild and Grizzly man would be a great idea...and I realized...hmmm...I think I am the only person who thought that Grizzly Man was a mockumentary!

I thought Grizzly Man was "Spinal Tap with Bears"...or "Blair Bear Project".

I've seen it twice and both times, I thought it was totally a dramatic satire of someone like Steve irwin, or a "hippie peta animal lover"...and the person called "Timothy Treadwell" was an actor. I include links in my previous post that are an obituary from CNN (which I thought was fake) because I thought that was how well the mockumantary had retained it's mystique as not revealing the whole movie was an urban myth. David Lynch published "Laura Palmer's Diary" (Treadwell's "book") to add an interactive "reality" to the tv show Twin Peaks. I figured no movie reviewers talked about it being fake because that would be like a plot spoiler.

I also thought the movie was brilliant because such care was taken to create an urban myth...!!!! The "special effects" of combining the actor with blue screen than adding the footage of bears behind him and his pretty nice camera Treadwell had with infinite batteries "in the middle of nowhere" all seemed obvious as the production of a story attempting to be "real".

If the person Timothy Treadwell is a real guy...and consider...I am in shock today to know that he might be...I don't think he was weird...I think all of the people who were interviewed as his "friends" are the real weirdos...like that pilot; who talks about someone's death like that so casually especially if he really did see Treadwell being eaten...who describes the bear who ate your friend like that manner?

I've gone back to YouTube and watched some of the interviews with "friends" of Timothy Treadwell the Grizzly Man...and they seem even creepier if they are his so-called friends...I am having a difficult time reconciling myself that these are actual real people talking about real events...?

Trailer for Into The Wild

As for Into The Wild it is a real person...and I suppose a double bill would be a great idea although...I am going to have to take a long long time to come to terms with Grizzly Man being a real documentary. When I thought it was a mockumentary then I think it would make a terrible double bill with Into The Wild. I think a good double bill with Into The Wild might be The Thin Red Line.

What always interested me about Grizzly Man was that it was like Citizen Kane and a satire, a serious satire...or exploration about storytelling and can we really know who a person is by the memories of those who knew them...

and "what is real"?

I think a great double bill would be Herzog's Grizzly Man with his other "documentary" Incident at Loch Ness


12 comments:

FOUR DINNERS said...

They could even show a classic Winnie The Pooh ahead of it with Pooh eating Christopher Robin.

Maybe a remake of The Jungle Book that has Baloo eating Mowgli?

Much more fun if you think about it!

mister anchovy said...

I think it could be that Treadwell was real, but lacked judgement skills in a big way.

tweetey30 said...

Yikes. I hope this all makes sense soon. I have seen bits and pieces of this one and its so sad how he died. He was only tryin to protect those poor bears. Hope you are feeling better also. This time of year is nutty. It was almost 40 degree's here today in WI..

* (asterisk) said...

Wow, it never occurred to me that anyone might think this was a mockumentary... But then, we had read about Treadwell in Vanity Fair before the film was made, and then there was a big article in Sight & Sound when it came out, so I always approached it as a work of fact.

But thinking back now at the things you mention, it's true that his "friends" were completely unsympathetic to the point of being laughable (almost!).

I don't know any other Herzog works, but I didn't like him as a film-maker, to be honest. I don't like his censorship decisions, and I didn't like the way some of the interviews were shot. But it may just be that he was unused to making documentaries. Perhaps that is the problem you had, too. Maybe there was something nagging at the back of your mind saying, "But Herzog doesn't do documentaries, and this just feels wrong." Or something?

My review is over at Such As They Are.

Red said...

How odd that you should think it was a mockumentary! Mostly I find it odd because Herzog is such a serious filmmaker, I don't think he has the spirit to do a spoof on anything!

I don't particularly recall the friends being unsympathetic to what happened, but I guess that's because they were half expecting something like this to happen eventually. Like a death foretold, if you will. At the end, I think Treadwell had proper taken leave of his senses to go back to the bears out of season. I'm sure he had a death wish. Which is all the more tragic when you think that he dragged his (former) girlfriend into it.

I should really watch it again...

Have you ever heard of Charlie Russell? He is a bear expert and he has written an open-letter about Treadwell.

http://cloudline.org/treadwell.html

Candy Minx said...

Four Dinners have you ever seen Bambi Meets Godzilla?

Mister Anchovy, well, he seems to be a real person. I was so put off by the "fake friends" who seemed not to be able to process human emotions that I thought it was all a mockumenatary...I feel bad now.

Tweetey, well, I thought this movie was a spoof, a dramatic spooof, but a spoof. Only the other day did I realize I was the only person who thought this was a made up story!

*, listen, I'm a little embarassed now that I thought this was a mockumentary! I will go read your review shortly.

Red, it is precisely because it was Herzog I thoiught it was a mockumentary. He has made several documentaries, and many critics feel he is a genius at them. His movie Incident at Loch Ness is a mockumentary. His early art house movies, brilliant...always had a feel or subtext of a documentary to the story or style. If you've never seen Fitzcaraldo, Aguire, or Strozek...I am jealous...three of the most amazing movies ever made! Herzog is a god to me!

Wylie Kinson said...

Hiya Candy - I haven't seen either movie, and am here for another reason.

First - Happy New Year!
Second - sorry I haven't visited you in so long, but my computer screen went down kaputz before Christmas and for some insane reason, whenever I try to visit your blog on my laptop, it freezes up completely and the only way out is a reboot. God knows why...
Santa brought me a new screen for my desktop, so I'm back!!
Now I've got to catch up with your past posts...

Cheers!
Wylie

Anonymous said...

Hee. That's OK Candy, I just figured out last week that Neil Sedaka is gay.

(like, how the hell could I miss that?)

Wandering Coyote said...

Candy: OMG - I also thought Grizzly Man was a mockumentary! I have a review of it posted on my blog, there's a link on my sidebar. I also thought Treadwell was a total nutbar, but I also thought his "friends" were so absurdly ridiculous and unreal. I also saw Incident at Loch Ness, but didn't clue into the fact that it was a a mockumentary until the diver woman revealed herself in a skimpy bikini - on my second viewing of the film. Am I slow or what??

Candy Minx said...

Neil Sedaka huh L.M.? He's a family guy married for 45 years...I always thought his career was interesting. He shows up on Regis and Kelly every once and a while and although I don't listen to his music he is a real sweetheart interview.

Hi Wylie, great tohear from you...I am sad to hear my blog made your screen freeze up I hope its better now. There are a couple blogs I love that my computer freezes I can't even link to them...it's weird.

Wandering Coyote...I'm glad I'm not alone. I spent a fair bit of time on the phone talking tomy sister about this movie this week...and she thinks that he might have been a real person...but the director created this mythology and film "based on real life" of the person who got killed in Alaska. I think this is what is going on here is a kind of basic backdrop and the "freinds" are scripted people...hence their bizarre delivery of emotions etc...

Anonymous said...

Neil Sedaka is straight?

(like, how the hell could I miss that?)

Candy Minx said...

L.M. you're cracking me up! And remember gender and sexuality is a spectrum!!! A spectrum! Heh heh thanks for popping back into this discussion very nice!

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