Grizzly Man

Grizzly Man is a 2005 documentary film by a German director named Werner Herzog. It documents the life and eventually, the death of a man named Timothy Treadwell, and includes over 100 hours of footage that actually belonged to Treadwell himself. 

Within 'Grizzly Man', Lacan's theory regarding 'lack' is clearly evident. Timothy Treadwell is an outcast and a loner, who finds solace in the company of wild animals (particularly grizzly bears) and nature. Although, in some of his own footage he does discuss his relationships with other humans and ponders why his relationships never worked out. It is clear that Treadwell tried to fill his lack of human relations and connections by using the bears and the nature around him as a form of escapism. During the documentary, we discover that Treadwell was once an alcoholic, hence proving that he had previously tried to fill his lack of human connection through other means but sadly this had not worked for him. 

Herzog interviews various people from Treadwell's life throughout the film, all of whom paint a relatively normal picture of his personality. His parents, his ex-girlfriend, his colleagues and friends all speak about him in such a way that almost contradicts Herzog's portrayal of him. They talk about how he was born in Long Island, New York in 1957 and how he was average at school, how he got into several broken relationships and how he stumbled upon heavy drinking as he got older like many people do. And then, Herzog begins to illustrate the fact that Treadwell began to fill the lack that could not be filled with alcohol or social interaction by becoming, what he thought was, a saviour for the grizzly bears that lived in Alaska's Katmai National Park. He filmed the grizzly bears for a total of 12 years and almost lived and breathed for them, or so Herzog made it appear with the way that he constructed the documentary and selected the footage. 

Included in the footage were various interviews with family members, friends and colleagues, as well as handheld camera work from Treadwell himself, diegetic sound from the footage found on Treadwell's camera and non-diegetic sound that was added during post-production to emote sympathy for him.

With the clips found on Treadwell's own cameras and computers lasting over 100 hours, director Herzog had to cut down the footage through a process of selection. The footage that he carefully chose was used to show the full extent of Treadwell's loneliness and how his personality was quite unique in comparison to that of an average person. He extensively used shots of Treadwell in a state of anger, as well as long shots of lonely locations and shots where Treadwell is the only subject in frame, to highlight his isolation. Throughout the film, Herzog really wanted to put emphasis on the fact that Timothy's entire world revolved around these bears and around nature, so he selected only shots of his in this environment despite the fact that he likely had footage of Timothy in other places, such as at school or in his family home. He deliberately chose footage that incorporated the mise-en-scene that fixates on and supports the message he was trying to get across: that he is obsessed with this environment to such an extent that it borders on insanity. 


   

As you can see from the above stills taken from the documentary , Treadwell is entirely alone in the frame of many of the shots, against a vast, severe backdrop to highlight loneliness and isolation from the outside world. This really emphasises the fact that he lived in a small world that revolved around this national park with the grizzly bears and being on his own without any social interaction with other human beings.