8.11.2005

I am kind and viciously tough



"He should be granted some privacy and dignity in his death."
That's talented and German documentary filmmaker Warner Herzog talking about Timothy Treadwell, the subject of his new film, Grizzly Man. For those of you who don't know the premise of the movie, here it is:
Having survived thirteen summers among the carnivores, [Treadwell] and his girlfriend were ravaged by a bear moments before they were to be transported back to the mainland. The 100 hours of footage left behind eventually found its way into Mr. Herzog’s hands.
That's "ravaged" in the killed and eaten sense, not in the messy-haired sex sense. So Herzog took the footage (combined with some of his own stuff) and edited it into a film. You know, for privacy's sake. Also, he included the audio recording of Grizzly Man and Girlfriend screaming helplessly while being mauled. Very private.

None of this should be taken to mean that I am not dying to see this movie. I am. Here's the trailer. And here's a sort of creepy excerpt from the last letter Treadwell ever wrote:
My transformation complete—-a fully accepted wild animal—-brother to these bears. I run free among them—-with absolute love and respect for all the animals. I am kind and viciously tough.


UPDATE: I am an idiot. The audio recording is not in the movie and Herzog would never (never!) invade dude's privacy. According to Salon:
You may learn more about the gruesome details of Treadwell and Huguenard's deaths than you want to know, but Herzog never shows us the autopsy photographs or plays the notorious audiotape of their killings. (One of them evidently turned the camera on when the attack began, but never took the lens cap off.) In perhaps the film's most dramatic scene, Treadwell's ex-girlfriend and executor, Jewel Palovak, allows Herzog to hear the tape through earphones. He listens for 30 seconds or so, then takes the phones off. "You must never listen to this, Jewel," he tells her. (Later he tells her to destroy the tape -- otherwise, the temptation to hear it will always be with her.)

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