Music And Grizzly Men

Listened to some music this morning, particularly that great Robert Glasper CD “Black Radio” again. Has to be one of the best jazz fusion albums of the year. I then went and did an hour in Teynham library.

I watched one of the films that my brother gave me recently.. Totally absorbing documentary by Werner Herzog, and the true story of Timothy Treadwell, “Grizzly Man”.


Werner Herzog is noted for making films that include 'animals doing unusual things' and 'long, extended landscape shots' (IMDB). Grizzly Man fulfils both criteria, but more unusual than the behaviour of the bears that feature in this brilliant documentary, is that of film's protagonist - Timothy Treadwell - an authentic American outsider who spent 13 long summers in a remote Alaskan wilderness documenting these wild creatures. It's an examination of this obsessive, eccentric and ultimately deluded man, who is misguided into the belief that he is able to 'make friends' with some of nature's most fearsome predators.

What makes this film especially interesting is the way Werner Herzog pieces it together as a kind of poem to man's relationship with nature, intercepting Treadwell's own - often inspirational - wildlife footage, his on-camera soliloquies, and interviews with family, friends and contemporaries. What catches the eye the most is the footage of Treadwell himself, ranging from his amusing wildlife 'presentations' to egomaniacal rants against the park authorities, poachers and other visitors to his remote hideaway.

What becomes apparent, and is expertly pieced together by Herzog, is that while Treadwell is selflessly committed to what he sees as the preservation of the bears, he may well be doing them as much harm as good, and he has falsely seen in them a mutual affinity that ultimately costs him and his girlfriend their lives. Is Treadwell's obsession with the bears emblematic of his more problematic relationship with human society? What is it that he is escaping from? As Herzog himself points out in monologue, there are moments in Treadwell's films that are 'pure cinema'. What makes this film great is that he allows these moments to breath, while building up a sensitive but unromanticised portrait of a troubled soul. Surreal and fascinating..

Also included on the DVD is a short ten minute interview with Werner Herzog by Mark Kermode from the BBC Culture Show, and just as fascinating , the making of the music behind the film done in an improvisational style by top musicians including British folk guitarist Richard Thompson, and avant-garde musicians, Henry Kaiser and Jim O’Rourke.

Yesterday I watched “Atonement” on DVD , and I haven’t read the book it is based on, despite the novel being in my collection. Something I will have to remedy before the end of the year.