Grizzly Man Script - Dialogue Transcript

Grizzly Man Script

  

  

 

                   

I'm out in the prime cut

of the big green.



 

                   

Behind me is Ed and Rowdy, members

of an up-and-coming subadult gang.



 

                   

They're challenging everything, including me.

Goes with the territory.



 

                   

If I show weakness,

if I retreat,



 

                   

I may be hurt,

I may be killed.



 

                   

I must hold my own

if I'm gonna stay within this land.



 

                   

For once there is weakness,

they will exploit it, they will take me out,



 

                   

they will decapitate me,

they will chop me into bits and pieces.



 

                   

I'm dead.



  

                   

But so far, I persevere.



  

                   

Persevere.



  

                   

Most times

I'm a kind warrior out here.



  

                   

Most times, I am gentle,

I am like a flower,



  

                   

I'm like... I'm like

a fly on the wall,



  

                   

observing, noncommittal,

noninvasive in any way.



  

                   

Occasionally I am challenged.

And in that case,



  

                   

the kind warrior must,

must, must become a samurai.



  

                   

Must become so,



  

                   

so formidable,



  

                   

so fearless of death,



  

                   

so strong



  

                   

that he will win, he will win.



  

                   

Even the bears will believe

that you are more powerful.



  

                   

And in a sense

you must be more powerful



  

                   

if you are to survive in this land

with the bear.



  

                   

No one knew that.

No one ever friggin' knew



  

                   

that there are times when my life

is on the precipice of death



  

                   

and that these bears can bite,

they can kill.



  

                   

And if I am weak,

I go down.



  

                   

I love them with all my heart.

I will protect them.



  

                   

I will die for them, but I will not die

at their claws and paws.



  

                   

I will fight. I will be strong.

I'll be one of them.



  

                   

I will be... the master.



  

                   

But still a kind warrior.



  

                   

Love you, Rowdy.



  

                   

Give it to me, baby.



  

                   

That's what I'm talkin' about.

That's what I'm talkin' about.



  

                   

That's what I'm talkin' about.



  

                   

I can smell death

all over my fingers.



  

                   

All these majestic creatures were filmed

by Timothy Treadwell



  

                   

who lived among wild grizzlies

for    summers.



  

                   

He went to remote areas

of the Alaskan peninsula



  

                   

believing that

he was needed there



  

                   

to protect these animals

and educate the public.



  

                   

During his last five years

out there,



  

                   

he took along a video camera



  

                   

and shot over     hours

of footage.



  

                   

What Treadwell intended was to show

these bears in their natural habitat.



  

                   

Having myself filmed

in the wilderness of jungles,



  

                   

I found that beyond

the wildlife film,



  

                   

in his material lay

dormant a story



  

                   

of astonishing beauty

and depth.



  

                   

I discovered a film

of human ecstasies



  

                   

and darkest inner turmoil.



  

                   

As if there was

a desire in him



  

                   

to leave the confinements

of his humanness



  

                   

and bond with the bears,



  

                   

Treadwell reached out,

seeking a primordial encounter.



  

                   

But in doing so, he crossed

an invisible borderline.



  

                   

Go back and play.



  

                   

Go ahead back. Go back.



  

                   

Go back.



  

                   

This is a subadult.

And this is what happens to them.



  

                   

They work together,

and they get really powerful.



  

                   

As you can see,

I'm just feet away.



  

                   

You just relax.

You just relax.



  

                   

He's now moving away from me.



  

                   

I've now proven myself as being able to hold

my ground and therefore earning their respect.



  

                   

This is Rowdy, the bear.

And he's rowdy.



  

                   

He's gettin' bigger.



  

                   

Knew him from... He was a little dot

a couple of years ago.



  

                   

He's gettin' to be a big boy.

Anyway, we're doing just fine.



  

                   

But that was a challenge,



  

                   

and you have to remain cool

in the challenge, in the moment.



  

                   

If you don't, you're dead.



  

                   

They can kill. They can bite.

They can decapitate.



  

                   

Excuse me. Hey.



  

                   

Hey!



  

                   

It's okay, it's okay. It's okay.



  

                   

I didn't mean to get in your way.



  

                   

Wow. It's okay.

You're the boss.



  

                   

Nice job. Wow! Nice job.



  

                   

I gotta think, he was over ten-feet high,

don't you?



  

                   

He's a big bear!

He's a big bear!



  

                   

A very big bear! Wow!



  

                   

Anyway, he's over here

rub-a-dub-dubbing.



  

                   

He's a big bear!



  

                   

The excitement Treadwell felt



  

                   

connected him immediately

with children.



  

                   

In his campaign

to create awareness,



  

                   

he reached thousands and thousands

of school children



  

                   

who would remember

his fabulous storytelling



  

                   

as one of the highlights

of their school years.



  

                   

He took his mission

so seriously



  

                   

that he never solicited for a fee.



  

                   

Over time, he reached the status

of a national celebrity.



  

                   

Timothy Treadwell is crazy

about grizzly bears.



  

                   

How crazy? Sometimes...



  

                   

It was as if he had become a star



   

                   

by virtue of his own invention.



   

                   

I would be within

the physical presence of bears



   

                   

   hours a day

for months at a time.



   

                   

This is... crazy.

This is nuts.



   

                   

These are the most dangerous animals

on the face of the earth.



   

                   

- Well...

- And you want to go



   

                   

and put yourself in harm's way

   hours a day?



   

                   

I think they've been misunderstood.



   

                   

How can I believe that if you are

about to be killed by a bear,



   

                   

that you wouldn't say, "I made a mistake.

I'd like to have a gun"?



   

                   

I would never, ever kill a bear

in defense of my own life.



   

                   

Would not go into a bear's home

and kill a bear.



   

                   

One day, I came home



   

                   

and I was sitting on my patio.



   

                   

My wife was in the bedroom

with the TV on.



   

                   

And I heard her scream.



   

                   

And I thought

she'd fallen or something.



   

                   

I came in and she was sitting

on the edge of the bed,



   

                   

staring at the television.



   

                   

I looked at the television,



   

                   

and I saw Timmy's face.



   

                   

I hadn't heard the sound

or the news yet,



   

                   

but I knew just by seeing

Timmy's face on TV



   

                   

and hearing

my wife's reaction,



   

                   

that the worst had happened.



   

                   

Not necessarily a surprise,



   

                   

but... the worst.



   

                   

I never have days

when I grieve for Timmy



   

                   

as I have with other friends

who have died.



   

                   

They feel dead.



   

                   

Timmy doesn't feel dead.



   

                   

This is the last photo

of Timothy Treadwell.



   

                   

It was taken at the beginning

of his   th summer



   

                   

in the wilds of Alaska.



   

                   

With him is Amie Huguenard,

who would die by his side.



   

                   

The man who took the photo

was Willy Fulton,



   

                   

a close friend of Timothy's,



   

                   

and the pilot

who would bring him to this remote part



   

                   

of the Alaskan peninsula.



   

                   

Treadwell saw himself

as the guardian of this land



   

                   

and stylized himself

as Prince Valiant,



   

                   

fighting the bad guys with their schemes

to do harm to the bears.



   

                   

But all this land is

a federally protected reserve,



   

                   

part of Katmai National Park.



   

                   

This big plain,

Treadwell called "The Sanctuary."



   

                   

Here he would spend

the early summer months



   

                   

before moving along

some    miles



   

                   

to this densely overgrown area



   

                   

which he called

"The Grizzly Maze"



   

                   

where he would observe

the late summer salmon run.



   

                   

It was here that Fulton

would pick him up in the fall.



   

                   

On October   last year,

this is the spot here at Kaflia Lake



   

                   

where I pulled in

to pick up Tim and Amie.



   

                   

Typical day out here.

Rain, foggy, a lot of wind.



   

                   

It was kinda strange.

Didn't see him, didn't hear anything.



   

                   

No gear on the beach

or anything.



   

                   

I tied up, and I started

yelling a little bit.



   

                   

"Tim! Amie!" And no answer.



   

                   

I caught a little tiny bit

of movement up on the hill,



   

                   

so I'm like, it was windy, maybe they

just couldn't hear me or something.



   

                   

So I decided I'd go up

in the camp,



   

                   

and see what was going on.



   

                   

And headed off

up through the alders.



   

                   

It's kind of a thick trail

up into camp there.



   

                   

Got about three-quarters

of the way up the hill,



   

                   

and something just didn't feel right at all,

something seemed strange.



   

                   

I'm yelling and no answer.

So I turned around



   

                   

and started coming back down the trail

at a pretty good clip, I guess.



   

                   

I was kinda... trottin' along.



   

                   

And as I got in the thickest

part of the alders right here,



   

                   

as I got near the airplane,

I just happened to turn around.



   

                   

And I turned around

and looked and...



   

                   

Pretty nasty-Iooking bear

that I had seen here before



   

                   

is just sneaking slow,

with his head down.



   

                   

Just the meanest-Iooking thing

coming through the brush.



   

                   

So I jumped on the airplane

real quick and untied it.



   

                   

And took off. Turned around,

flew over camp there.



   

                   

Just looked down

and saw a human rib cage



   

                   

that I knew had to be

either Tim or Amie laying there.



   

                   

And he was just eating that.



   

                   

And as l...

So I circled around again.



   

                   

Got really low,

and tried to run him off.



   

                   

Just over and over again with the airplane.

Every time I would come over,



   

                   

he'd just start eating faster

and faster and crouch over



   

                   

this rib cage there.



   

                   

And right at that time,



   

                   

I just realized, "Wow!



   

                   

I was pretty close to gettin' eaten myself"

is what I thought.



   

                   

And this shot of adrenalin like

I've never had just came over me.



   

                   

And my throat went...

couldn't breathe.



   

                   

My face went numb.

My arms and legs went numb.



   

                   

And then I called back...



   

                   

back to the office,



   

                   

and told them what happened out here,

what I thought had happened.



   

                   

And that we would need some assistance

out here. That we had some problems.



   

                   

After the Park Service arrived,

then I'm leading them up through the alders.



   

                   

This is the same trail

that I'd come up the first time.



   

                   

We got to about right here,

and we just stopped.



   

                   

We stopped just to take

a look around.



   

                   

Right then, one guy with us

just yells, "Bear!"



   

                   

And they all spin around. These gun barrels

come over the top of my head.



   

                   

Boy, they just start

firing them off.



   

                   

I ducked down 'cause

they hadn't given me a gun.



   

                   

I'd look up, and they'd fire

over and over again.



   

                   

Then I look up when they're done firing

and there's just a cloud of smoke here.



   

                   

I look over, and the bear

is laying right there.



   

                   

They're yelling at me,

just don't go near the bear.



   

                   

I knew he was dead.



   

                   

He'd been shot in the head

and the neck and everywhere.



   

                   

He was just laying here

pretty much lifeless.



   

                   

And this is right where...

where the bear...



   

                   

I told them at the time, I said,

"This is the bear that killed Tim."



   

                   

I knew, 'cause that was the same bear

that I had seen down here



   

                   

looking at me right through

the alder bushes there.



   

                   

So I knew this was the bear.

I said, "Yep, that'll be the one."



   

                   

That wound up being the bear



   

                   

that they found Tim in.



   

                   

I'm here on camera with Olie, the big old bear.

The big old grumpy bear.



   

                   

He just took Cracker

out of the creek area.



   

                   

There's not a lot of fish here



   

                   

so you can understand him wanting

to have control of the creek.



   

                   

He's acting like

an alpha male here.



   

                   

Which, I guess, for the fact that he is

the only male here, he is the alpha male.



   

                   

At any rate, he's also...

He's a surly bear.



   

                   

I met him on the path

the other day,



   

                   

after feeling sorry for him, thinking

that he was a bit thin, a bit gaunt...



   

                   

And he promptly charged me

with the intent to probably strike.



   

                   

I know the language

of the bear.



   

                   

I was able to deter him from doing that,

and I'm fine.



   

                   

But I will tell you something.



   

                   

It is the old bear, one who is struggling

for survival,



   

                   

and an aggressive one at that,



   

                   

who is the one

that you must be very careful of.



   

                   

For these are the bears,

that on occasion,



   

                   

do, for survival,

kill and eat humans.



   

                   

Could Olie, the big old bear,

possibly kill and eat Timothy Treadwell?



   

                   

What do you think, Olie?

I think if you were weak around him,



   

                   

you're going down his gullet,

going down the pipe.



   

                   

Right up top of the hill here

is where we found



   

                   

what was left of Tim's body...

his head and a little bit of backbone.



   

                   

And we found



   

                   

a hand, arm,

wristwatch still on the arm.



   

                   

I remember the watch.

Shoot, I can remember the watch.



   

                   

And here's a guy



   

                   

that used to dive in the lake down here

naked to scare the airplanes away.



   

                   

And here I'm finding his watch

and arm on top of the hill.



   

                   

And here's about all that's left

of the bear that killed him.



   

                   

A few pieces of rib bone.



   

                   

This bear was shot,

and drug off and eaten



   

                   

by other bears here,

right in this area.



   

                   

The tough thing out of all this is Tim would

have never wanted to see any bears killed.



   

                   

Even if they had killed him,

he would've...



   

                   

He would've been happy

if nobody found him.



   

                   

Nobody found any remains.

Nobody found his camp or anything.



   

                   

He would've been

perfectly content.



   

                   

He definitely lived

on the edge. But he...



   

                   

He was a little smarter than everyone

gave him credit for.



   

                   

He made it out here a long time

before they caught up with him.



   

                   

And actually the bear

that wound up killing him



   

                   

was just a dirty rotten bear

that he didn't like anyway.



   

                   

He wanted to be friends with,

but never happened.



   

                   

I want to introduce you to one of the key

role players in this year's expedition.



   

                   

The bear's name is The Grinch.



   

                   

The Grinch has come on

to be one of the more



   

                   

frequent bears

here in the Grizzly Maze.



   

                   

The Grinch is a female

of about five years of age.



   

                   

Oh, hi, Grinch. Hi.



   

                   

And she has kind of

an aggressive attitude.



   

                   

Hi.



   

                   

If I turn around too much, she'll bite me.

It's okay. Hi. How are you?



   

                   

How are you?



   

                   

Don't you do that.

Don't you do that!



   

                   

Back off!



   

                   

Don't do it.



   

                   

It's okay. I love you.



   

                   

I love you. I love you.

I love you.



   

                   

I love you. I'm sorry.



   

                   

I'm Sam Egli.



   

                   

I was called out as a helicopter pilot



   

                   

to assist on the cleanup after

the Treadwell tragedy of last winter.



   

                   

I was in there the morning



   

                   

the Fish and Game officers

were there examining



   

                   

the bear that had done

the killing.



   

                   

The bear was all cut open.



   

                   

It was full of people.

It was full of clothing. It was...



   

                   

We hauled away

four garbage bags of people



   

                   

out of that bear.



   

                   

Treadwell was, I think,



   

                   

meaning well, trying to do things



   

                   

to help the resource of the bears.



   

                   

But to me

he was acting like...



   

                   

like he was working with people



   

                   

wearing bear costumes out there

instead of wild animals.



   

                   

Those bears are big

and ferocious,



   

                   

and they come equipped

to kill ya and eat ya.



   

                   

And that's just what

Treadwell was asking for.



   

                   

He got what

he was asking for.



   

                   

He got what he deserved,

in my opinion.



   

                   

The tragedy of it

was taking the girl with him.



   

                   

I think the only reason



   

                   

that Treadwell lasted

as long in the game as he did



   

                   

was that the bears probably thought

there was something wrong with him.



   

                   

Like he was mentally retarded

or something.



   

                   

That bear, I think,

that day decided that he had



   

                   

either had enough

of Tim Treadwell,



   

                   

or that something clicked

in that bear's head



   

                   

that he thought, "Hey, you know,

he might be good to eat."



   

                   

My opinion,

I think Treadwell thought



   

                   

these bears were big,

scary looking, harmless creatures



   

                   

that he could go up and pet

and sing to,



   

                   

- and they would bond

- Look it there!



   

                   

As children of the universe

or some odd.



   

                   

I think he had lost sight

of what was really going on.



   

                   

He wanted to become like the bear.



   

                   

Perhaps it was religious,

but not in the true sense of religion.



   

                   

I think perhaps he wanted to



   

                   

mutate into a wild animal



   

                   

as he says in this last letter.



   

                   

He says, "I have to mutually

mutate into a wild animal



   

                   

to handle the life

I live out here."



   

                   

I think there's

a religious sense in that



   

                   

in the sense of connecting so deeply

that you're no longer human.



   

                   

And that is a religious experience.



   

                   

Here's another example.



   

                   

"There are many times that

I feel death is the best option.



   

                   

My work would be

much more seriously looked at



   

                   

and possibly make the difference

that in living, I can't do."



   

                   

I think that was

sort of a paradox for him.



   

                   

That he felt not worthy enough

to get his message across at times.



   

                   

And so, maybe,

in the drama of death



   

                   

his message would be more poignant

and reach out to more people.



   

                   

But his message stirred

a lot of controversy.



   

                   

The Gaedes have collected

thousands of angry letters.



   

                   

I can read you some of...



   

                   

I picked out three

of these vitriolic hate mails.



   

                   

They cover the gamut.



   

                   

"Stereotypical environmentalist.



   

                   

Just as long as the donations

keep coming,



   

                   

furthering the antihuman

eco-religion as a noble cause,



   

                   

who cares about reality?"



   

                   

And the very idea



   

                   

that Timothy made a lot of money

doing what he did



   

                   

is absolutely preposterous, 'cause

he's one of the poorest people we knew.



   

                   

Another one.



   

                   

"A bear diet consists

of liberals and Dems,"



   

                   

meaning Democrats.



   

                   

"A bear diet consists of liberals and Dems

and wacko environmentalists



   

                   

that think the spotted owl

is the most important thing in the world.



   

                   

We need to somehow drastically increase

the number of bears in America,



   

                   

especially in such key spots

as the Berkeley campus."



   

                   

I, too, would like to step in here

in his defense,



   

                   

not as an ecologist,

but as a filmmaker.



   

                   

He captured such glorious

improvised moments,



   

                   

the likes of which

the studio directors,



   

                   

with their union crews,

can never dream of.



   

                   

Okay.



   

                   

What are you doing up there?

That's where you're sitting?



   

                   

There. Go.



   

                   

Go! Go! Go!



   

                   

Come on! Come on!



   

                   

Come on! Run home!



   

                   

Come on!



   

                   

Hi.



   

                   

Hey, you little champion.



   

                   

Hi. How are you?



   

                   

You're such a good champion.



   

                   

I love you. I love you.



   

                   

Get up there,

and guard that tent.



   

                   

I'm here with one of my favorite bears.

It's Mr. Chocolate.



   

                   

Hi, Mr. Chocolate.



   

                   

He is the star of many people

across the country:



   

                   

Children, people, adults.



   

                   

And we're here

in the Grizzly Sanctuary.



   

                   

But I'm wrapping up my work

in the Grizzly Sanctuary. Why is that?



   

                   

Because I'm on my way

to the Grizzly Maze



   

                   

where bears do not have human protection,

but are under human threat.



   

                   

Bears like Aunt Melissa. Bears like Demon,

Hatchet, Downey and Tabitha.



   

                   

And it's time for me

to go to protect them.



   

                   

I wish I could bring

Mr. Chocolate with me.



   

                   

You'd be great protection there.



   

                   

He's been with me for over a decade, and he's

been my good friend and I appreciate it.



   

                   

Thank you, Mr. Chocolate.

I'll see you again next year.



   

                   

No. I'll see him again at expedition...

end of this expedition.



   

                   

I'll be back here to join you again.

Back with Mr. Chocolate.



   

                   

But first, it's off to the exciting

and often dangerous Grizzly Maze.



   

                   

Now the scene seems to be over.



   

                   

But as a filmmaker,

sometimes things fall into your lap



   

                   

which you couldn't expect,

never even dream of.



   

                   

Hi, Spirit.



   

                   

There is something like

an inexplicable magic of cinema.



   

                   

Hi, Spirit.



   

                   

Well, I'm here with Mr. Chocolate

and Spirit, the fox.



   

                   

And here comes

some of her pups. Yea!



   

                   

Here comes

some of her pups.



   

                   

Hi.



   

                   

Hi, Spirit.



   

                   

Hi, Spirit. Hello, baby.



   

                   

Coming down.



   

                   

What are you doing to that hat?



   

                   

Where's that hat going?



   

                   

Hey, who's stealing that hat?



   

                   

Let me see that hat.

Ghost, I want that hat.



   

                   

Man! Ghost is bad.



   

                   

Ghost, what are you doing

with that hat?



   

                   

Ghost, that hat

is a very important hat.



   

                   

Drop it! Hey!



   

                   

Oh, goddamn it!



   

                   

I can't believe this!



   

                   

Ghost!



   

                   

Ghost, where's that fucking hat?



   

                   

That hat is so frigging valuable

for this trip.



   

                   

Ghost, you come back here

with that friggin' hat.



   

                   

If it's in the den,

I'm gonna fucking explode.



   

                   

Ghost, where's that hat?



   

                   

It's not okay for you to steal it.



   

                   

Oh, man!



   

                   

Oh, man!



   

                   

It's a friggin' den.



   

                   

One of the things I've

heard about Mr. Treadwell,



   

                   

and you can see

in a lot of his films,



   

                   

is that he tended

to want to become a bear.



   

                   

Some people that I've spoken with would

encounter him in the field,



   

                   

and he would act like a bear,

he would "woof" at them.



   

                   

He would act in the same way a bear

would when they were surprised.



   

                   

Why he did this is only known to him.

No one really knows for sure.



   

                   

But when you spend

a lot of time with bears,



   

                   

especially when you're in the field

with them day after day,



   

                   

there's a siren song,

there's a calling



   

                   

that makes you wanna come in

and spend more time in the world.



   

                   

Because it is a simpler world.



   

                   

It is a wonderful thing,



   

                   

but in fact

it's a harsh world.



   

                   

It's a different world that bears

live in than we do.



   

                   

So there is that desire

to get into their world,



   

                   

but the reality is we never can because

we're very different than they are.



   

                   

The line between bear and human



   

                   

has apparently always

been respected



   

                   

by the native communities

of Alaska.



   

                   

We visited the curator

of Kodiak's Alutiiq Museum,



   

                   

which had recently been raided

by tourists out of control.



   

                   

Somebody wanted it so much,

they cut the paw off.



   

                   

They stole it from here.



   

                   

It was quite tragic for us

because it's on loan



   

                   

and they came in and took it.



   

                   

And how do you see

Timothy Treadwell's story?



   

                   

I see it as something that's both...



   

                   

It's tragic because,



   

                   

yeah, he died

and his girlfriend died



   

                   

because he tried to be a bear.



   

                   

He tried to act like a bear, and for us

on the island, you don't do that.



   

                   

You don't invade

on their territory.



   

                   

You...



   

                   

When you're in their territory,

you know you're there.



   

                   

And when you're nearby,



   

                   

you make sure that

they know you're around.



   

                   

You know, for him to act

like a bear the way he did,



   

                   

would be...



   

                   

I don't know.

To me, it was the ultimate



   

                   

of disrespecting the bear

and what the bear represents.



   

                   

But he tried to protect the bears,

didn't he?



   

                   

I think he did more damage

to the bears than he did...



   

                   

Because when you habituate bears to

humans, they think all humans are safe.



   

                   

Where I grew up, the bears avoid us

and we avoid them.



   

                   

They're not habituated to us.



   

                   

If I look at it from my culture,

Timothy Treadwell crossed a boundary



   

                   

that we have lived with

for      years.



   

                   

It's an unspoken boundary,

an unknown boundary.



   

                   

But when we know

we've crossed it,



   

                   

we pay the price.



   

                   

Jewel, I apologize



   

                   

that this wristwatch

is still in an evidence bag.



   

                   

However, I want you to have this watch.



   

                   

I think that it is important

that you have it.



   

                   

You knew Timothy for a long time.



   

                   

My understanding is that you lived together

for three years.



   

                   

You were very close to him.



   

                   

Yeah. He was my boyfriend for three years.

He was my boss.



   

                   

He was a lot of things

to me in    years.



   

                   

I understand that. And that's the reason

I want you to have this.



   

                   

This really should be yours.



   

                   

- This watch is still running.

- Oh, wow.



   

                   

It has been running continuously

since the time that I received it.



   

                   

This was taken off Timothy's wrist.



   

                   

Wow! There it is.



   

                   

It's still running. I can't even believe it.

I can't believe it.



   

                   

I'm gonna wear it.



   

                   

And I'm gonna remember him,

and I'm gonna remember Amie.



   

                   

Can you speak about Amie?



   

                   

Amie was brave

and Amie was strong.



   

                   

Amie was my friend

and she was Timothy's friend.



   

                   

She was his girlfriend, but most important,

she was his friend.



   

                   

And...



   

                   

And I believe that

I'm gonna honor their choice.



   

                   

I'm always gonna respect them for

what they did, and for how they did it.



   

                   

And for being out there,

and for protecting bears



   

                   

and living in wild nature.



   

                   

And living their life to the fullest.



   

                   

They truly died

doing what they lived for.



   

                   

Representing Timothy.



   

                   

And then I'll fill in the rest.

That's the specific number.



   

                   

- So there it is.

- So there it is.



   

                   

Full circle. I've got it all.

I can't even believe it.



   

                   

- Hopefully it will continue to run a long time.

- I think it will.



   

                   

Very good.



   

                   

It's the last thing that's left.



   

                   

Thanks, Franc.



   

                   

Jewel Palovak,



   

                   

you were very close

to Timothy Treadwell.



   

                   

Do you sometimes

feel like his widow?



   

                   

Do I feel like his widow?



   

                   

Yeah, you know,

in some ways I do.



   

                   

I feel like his widow because



   

                   

everything that he had,

everything that he worked for,



   

                   

he left to me.



   

                   

I was his girlfriend.



   

                   

I was his employee.



   

                   

I was the person that figured

all the last-minute details out.



   

                   

You also founded a foundation

with him?



   

                   

Yeah. We did.

We founded Grizzly People,



   

                   

whose mission is to protect

and preserve habitat worldwide.



   

                   

For Treadwell, who had

a natural tendency towards chaos,



   

                   

Grizzly People served

as his organized platform,



   

                   

and Jewel was his

most trusted co-combatant.



   

                   

I met him in a restaurant.



   

                   

We both worked at this place

called Gulliver's.



   

                   

It was a prime rib restaurant.

It was huge and theatrical.



   

                   

Timothy was a squire,

'cause it was set in the time...



   

                   

It was based

on Gulliver's Travels.



   

                   

He had a chintzy felt hat



   

                   

and a cheap plastic apron

and some knickers



   

                   

and that blond hair

just sticking out.



   

                   

And me, I would be your English

serving wench for the evening.



   

                   

You had to toss the salad

with aplomb,



   

                   

and you had to boil the soup

and serve it to the people.



   

                   

I had seen Timothy,

and he was kind of fun.



   

                   

I didn't really know who he was.



   

                   

And one night, I just wasn't

in the best of moods.



   

                   

I had a huge table.

A family of people that wanted me



   

                   

to make it the best dining experience

of their life.



   

                   

Do it up big. Make the soup big, you know.

Use the vernacular.



   

                   

There was grandmas and babies

and hairdos and coats.



   

                   

So I thought, "You know what? I'll make it.

I'll make it big for ya.



   

                   

I'll make it really big.

You'll never forget this birthday."



   

                   

So, one of the parts

was you'd take the soup cart,



   

                   

and you'd light it up with this gas

so that the soup was bubbling and boiling.



   

                   

You could smell

the deliciousness.



   

                   

And I decided to make it

really big.



   

                   

So I trailed a little bit

extra of the lighter fluid



   

                   

around the polyester cloth,



   

                   

and I kind of miscalculated

because the soup exploded.



   

                   

The people screamed,

the fire went everywhere.



   

                   

So I was called into the office

in the next couple of days.



   

                   

And who do I see

when I sit down in the office,



   

                   

waiting like you're in the jail or

you're in the principal's office?



   

                   

I see Timothy Treadwell.



   

                   

I was like, "Hey, How are you?

I know I've seen you. I'm Jewel."



   

                   

He said, "I'm Tim."

I said, "What are you in for?"



   

                   

He said, "I'm in for walking funny

in the dining room."



   

                   

He said, "What did you do?"

I said, "I lit the soup cart on fire."



   

                   

He said, "That was you?"

And you know,



   

                   

it wasn't love at first sight,

but it was certainly kindred spirits.



   

                   

Only Timmy is the boss

of all foxes and all bears.



   

                   

You're their ruler.



   

                   

Look at that face.



   

                   

Hey, thanks for being my friend.



   

                   

This is so good.

Does that feel good?



   

                   

We patrol the Grizzly Sanctuary together.

How did we meet?



   

                   

Over a decade ago.

He left his mother and father's side,



   

                   

promptly peed on my shoes,

pooped on my clothes, that was it.



   

                   

He was my friend. Timmy, the fox. Yep.

And we watch over things.



   

                   

And he's the boss.

Takes care of everything.



   

                   

Yep, yep. He says,

"I love the way you pet."



   

                   

I think one of the things that's really important

is you can see the bond



   

                   

that has developed between

this very wild animal



   

                   

and this very,

fairly wild person.



   

                   

And you realize

he has this gorgeous fur,



   

                   

and people are trying

to kill him for it



   

                   

with steel door traps

and cruel farming practices.



   

                   

And other people run him down

on horses for sport.



   

                   

Fox hunting.

We want this to end.



   

                   

Between Timmy, the fox, this beautiful fox,

and me, we ask the public,



   

                   

please stop killing and hurting these foxes

and torturing them.



   

                   

Don't you think?



   

                   

If they knew how beautiful he was,

and how sweet he was,



   

                   

they would never hurt him.



   

                   

Thanks.



   

                   

Timothy used his camera as a tool

to get his message across.



   

                   

Sometimes it was very playful.



   

                   

Do another take here. I fucked up the last

one. Almost fell off the cliff.



   

                   

I'm a fucking asshole.



   

                   

Behind me is the Grizzly Sanctuary

and also behind me,



   

                   

hidden down below in those trees somewhere,

is my camp.



   

                   

I must stay incognito.

I must hide from the authorities.



   

                   

I must hide from people

who would harm me.



   

                   

I must now hide from people

that seek me out



   

                   

because I've made some sort of,



   

                   

I don't want to say celebrity,



   

                   

but they come to Alaska

and hear about Treadwell in the bush



   

                   

and they want to go find him.



   

                   

Well, they can't.

I'm hidden down below.



   

                   

No one knows where I am.

Even I don't know where I am.



   

                   

That's pretty shitty.



   

                   

Let's do a really short take here.



   

                   

But as a filmmaker,

he was methodical.



   

                   

- Whatever.

- Often repeating takes    times.



   

                   

One more really short,

excellent take.



   

                   

Let's just really sum it up. Here we go.

This is gonna be the motherfucker.



   

                   

Behind me is the Grizzly Sanctuary,

and also hidden below is my camp.



   

                   

For I must now remain hidden from the

authorities, from people who would harm me,



   

                   

from people who would

seek me out as a story.



   

                   

My future helping the animals

depends on it.



   

                   

I must be a spirit

in the wilderness.



   

                   

With himself as the central character,



   

                   

he began to craft his own movie,



   

                   

something way beyond

the wildlife film.



   

                   

There is going to be a number of takes

I'm gonna do.



   

                   

These are called

"Wild Timmy Jungle Scenes."



   

                   

We're gonna do

several takes of each



   

                   

where I'll do it with a bandanna on,

maybe a bandanna off.



   

                   

Maybe two different

colored bandannas.



   

                   

Some without a bandanna,



   

                   

some with the camera

being held.



   

                   

I kind of stumbled.

Let's do it again.



   

                   

So the basic deal is that this stuff

could be cut into a show later on,



   

                   

but who knows what look I had, whether

I had the black bandanna or no bandanna.



   

                   

Very rarely the camo one,

but I like the camo look.



   

                   

Both cameras rolling. Both cameras rolling.

Both cameras rolling!



   

                   

Sexy green bandanna,

last take of the evening.



   

                   

I'm on my way to the creek.

I need to get water.



   

                   

And there's a super-duper low tide.

Full moon tonight, and action.



   

                   

In his action movie mode,



   

                   

Treadwell probably did not realize



   

                   

that seemingly empty moments

had a strange, secret beauty.



   

                   

Sometimes images themselves

developed their own life,



   

                   

their own mysterious stardom.



   

                   

Starsky and Hutch. Over.



   

                   

Beyond his posings,



   

                   

the camera was his only

present companion.



   

                   

It was his instrument to explore

the wilderness around him,



   

                   

but increasingly

it became something more.



   

                   

He started to scrutinize

his innermost being,



   

                   

his demons,

his exhilarations.



   

                   

Facing the lens of a camera took

on the quality of a confessional.



   

                   

Covering various years,



   

                   

the following samples illustrate

the search for himself.



   

                   

If there... I have no idea

if there's a God.



   

                   

But if there's a God, God would

be very, very... pleased with me.



   

                   

If he could just watch me here,

how much I love them,



   

                   

how much I adore them,

how respectful I am to them.



   

                   

How I am one of them.



   

                   

And how the studies they give me,

the photographs, the video...



   

                   

And take that around

for no charge



   

                   

to people around the world.



   

                   

It's good work. I feel good about it.

I feel good about myself doing it.



   

                   

And I want to continue, and I hope I can.

I really hope I can.



   

                   

But if not, be warned.



   

                   

I will die for these animals. I will die for

these animals. I will die for these animals.



   

                   

Thank you so much

for letting me do this.



   

                   

Thank you so much for these animals,

for giving me a life.



   

                   

I had no life.

Now I have a life.



   

                   

Now, enough of that.



   

                   

Now let the expedition continue.

It's off to Timmy, the fox.



   

                   

We've gotta find Banjo.

He's missing!



   

                   

And that's my story here,



   

                   

for me, Timothy Treadwell,



   

                   

the kind warrior.



   

                   

Can I take it?



   

                   

I'm trying.



   

                   

Okay, yeah, I can do it.



   

                   

Yeah. Why not? Why not?



   

                   

I've crossed the halfway point.



   

                   

Government's given me

all they have. So far.



   

                   

I've stood up to it.



   

                   

I've had danger in the boat, almost died.

I've almost fallen off a cliff.



   

                   

Yeah. The danger factor's

about to amp up in the Maze.



   

                   

The Maze is always

the most dangerous.



   

                   

Lord, I do not want

to be hurt by a bear.



   

                   

I do not.



   

                   

I always cannot understand why girls

don't wanna be with me for a long time,



   

                   

because I have really

a nice personality.



   

                   

I'm fun.



   

                   

I'm very, very good in the... You're not

supposed to say that when you're a guy.



   

                   

But I know I am.

They know I am.



   

                   

And...



   

                   

I don't fight with them,

I'm so passive.



   

                   

Bit of a patsy!



   

                   

Is that a turnoff to girls,

to be a patsy?



   

                   

I mean it's not... it's not

that I'm a total great guy.



   

                   

I'm a lot of fun

and have a good life going.



   

                   

I don't know what's going on.



   

                   

I always wished I was gay.

Would've been a lot easier.



   

                   

You know?

You can just "bing-bing-bing."



   

                   

Gay guys have no problem. I mean,

they go to restrooms and truck stops,



   

                   

and they perform sex.



   

                   

It's like so easy for 'em and stuff.



   

                   

But you know what?

Alas, Timothy Treadwell is not gay. Bummer!



   

                   

I love girls! And girls...



   

                   

Girls need a lot more...



   

                   

need a lot more, you know,



   

                   

finesse and care,

and I like that a bit.



   

                   

But when it goes bad

and you're alone,



   

                   

it's like...



   

                   

Well,



   

                   

you know, you can't rebound

like you can if you were gay.



   

                   

I'm sure gay people

have problems too,



   

                   

but not as much as one goofy straight guy

named Timothy Treadwell.



   

                   

Anyway, that's my story.

That's my story.



   

                   

I love you. Look at you.



   

                   

You're the best little fox.



   

                   

But how did I come

into this work, Iris?



   

                   

Did you ever get the story?



   

                   

I was troubled. I was troubled.

I drank a lot.



   

                   

Did you know that?

You wouldn't even know what that is.



   

                   

But I used to drink

to the point of



   

                   

that I guess I was either gonna die

from it or break free of it.



   

                   

But nothing, nothing, Iris,

could get me from... to stop drinking.



   

                   

Nothing! I went to programs.

I tried quitting myself.



   

                   

I did everything that I could

to try not to drink,



   

                   

and then I did everything

I could to drink.



   

                   

And... And it was killing me



   

                   

until I discovered

this land of bears



   

                   

and realized that they were in

such great danger



   

                   

that they needed a caretaker, they needed

someone to look after them.



   

                   

But not a drunk person.

Not a person messed up.



   

                   

So I promised the bears

that if I would look over them,



   

                   

would they please help me

be a better person and



   

                   

they've become so inspirational,



   

                   

and living with the foxes too,



   

                   

that I did, I gave up the drinking.



   

                   

It was a miracle.

It was an absolute miracle.



   

                   

And the miracle was animals.

The miracle was animals.



   

                   

I live here. It's very dangerous.

It's really dangerous.



   

                   

I run wild with the bears.

I run so wild, so free,



   

                   

so like a child

with these animals.



   

                   

It's really cool.

And it's very serious.



   

                   

I'm here alone,

and when you're all alone



   

                   

you do get... you get lonely.



   

                   

Oh, duhl Right?

You get pretty lonely.



   

                   

Oh, no. I'm gonna do all this stuff because

I'm supposed to be alone.



   

                   

Oh. Okay.



   

                   

Part of the mythical character



   

                   

Treadwell was transforming

himself into



   

                   

required him to be seen

as being completely alone.



   

                   

He was mostly alone,

but he did spend time with women



   

                   

who will here

remain anonymous.



   

                   

The truth is that

Amie Huguenard



   

                   

accompanied him for parts

of his last two summers.



   

                   

A fact which was out of step

with his stylization



   

                   

as the lone guardian

of the grizzlies.



   

                   

It's July    and I've been dropped off

all alone again here in the Grizzly Maze.



   

                   

And it's always such a surreal

feeling as the plane takes off.



   

                   

And it doesn't quite sink

into you just how alone you are.



   

                   

That for the next

two months or more



   

                   

you will be alone

in this wild wilderness,



   

                   

this jungle that the bears

have carved tunnels through.



   

                   

And that's the Grizzly Maze.



   

                   

It's July   .

I hope to survive



   

                   

and to be able to record

the secret world of the bears.



   

                   

And come September when people

might come to harm these animals,



   

                   

I'll look after them,

I'll make sure they're safe.



   

                   

It is so weird, though,

when it sinks in,



   

                   

how alone you are.



   

                   

Amie Huguenard remains

a great unknown of this film.



   

                   

Her family declined

to appear on camera,



   

                   

and Amie herself remains hidden

in Treadwell's footage.



   

                   

In nearly     hours

of his video,



   

                   

she appears

exactly two times.



   

                   

Here disembarking from the plane

in the year of her death.



   

                   

We never see her face.



   

                   

Here it is obscured

by her hands and her hair.



   

                   

Greetings, children of America.



   

                   

The second shot that we have

doesn't show her face either.



   

                   

She remains a mystery,

veiled by a mosquito net,



   

                   

obscured, unknown.



   

                   

Only through Treadwell's diaries



   

                   

do we know that

she was frightened of bears.



   

                   

The only other hint

we have of her presence



   

                   

is this shot here of Treadwell.



   

                   

It is handheld,

and we can only deduct



   

                   

it must have been Amie

operating the camera.



   

                   

Timothy Treadwell

and Amie Huguenard's remains



   

                   

came in this large metal can.



   

                   

Inside this metal can

was a plastic bag,



   

                   

one for Timothy, and one for Amie.



   

                   

I mean, these are human beings.

And the question I ask is first of all:



   

                   

Who are you, Timothy?



   

                   

Who are you, Amie?

And what happened to you?



   

                   

In the case of Timothy and Amie,

what I had were body parts.



   

                   

Just the visual input of seeing



   

                   

a detached human being

before my eyes



   

                   

makes my heart race, makes

the hair stand up on the back of my head.



   

                   

Particularly in combination

with the contents of a tape,



   

                   

an audiotape that is the sound portion

of the videotape.



   

                   

And when I find out

from other investigators



   

                   

that the shoes neatly placed

at the entrance to a tent,



   

                   

and the cap left

on a camera so that



   

                   

the visual part

could not be recorded,



   

                   

yet the tape is running so that we can

hear the sounds of Amie screaming



   

                   

and the sounds

of Timothy moaning,



   

                   

tells me that this event

occurred very, very quickly,



   

                   

suddenly and unexpectedly.



   

                   

I clearly can hear her screaming,

"Stop" and "Go away."



   

                   

Maybe "Run away."

There's a lot of background noise.



   

                   

Timothy is moaning.



   

                   

And I hear Amie beating on the top

of this bear's head with a frying pan.



   

                   

And Timothy is saying,

"Run away. Let go!



   

                   

Run away. Run away, Amie.

Run away."



   

                   

Amie had a great deal

of conviction.



   

                   

She had a great deal of conviction

in this relationship. We know that.



   

                   

Although in the past,

she was more standoffish.



   

                   

She didn't get as close

to the bear as Timothy did.



   

                   

She was more cautious.



   

                   

However, I know,

that at the moment of death,



   

                   

when one is being tried

to the maximum of one's ability



   

                   

to be faithful,

to stick to a situation,



   

                   

to be loyal, if one can say that,

to Timothy,



   

                   

she stayed there,

and she fought with Timothy.



   

                   

She did not run away.



   

                   

Amie, we know, fought back

for approximately six minutes.



   

                   

Amie stayed with her lover,



   

                   

with her partner, with her mate,



   

                   

and with the bear.



   

                   

Ultimately she stayed

with the bear in the situation.



   

                   

This is Timothy's camera.



   

                   

During the fatal attack,



   

                   

there was no time

to remove the lens cap.



   

                   

Jewel Palovak allowed me

to listen to the audio.



   

                   

I hear rain, and I hear Amie,



   

                   

"Get away! Get away!

Go away!"



   

                   

Can you turn it off?



   

                   

Jewel, you must never

listen to this.



   

                   

I know, Werner.

I'm never going to.



   

                   

And you must never look at the photos

I've seen at the coroner's office.



   

                   

- I will never look at them.

- Yeah.



   

                   

They said it was bad.



   

                   

Now you know why

no one's gonna hear it.



   

                   

I think you, you should not keep it.

You should destroy it.



   

                   

- Yeah.

- I think that's what you should do.



   

                   

Okay.



   

                   

Because it will be the white elephant

in your room all your life.



   

                   

Here I am at the scene

of the fight.



   

                   

It looks as if tractors tore

the land up,



   

                   

raked it, rototilled it,

tossed it about.



   

                   

There is fur everywhere, and in the camera

foreground excreted waste.



   

                   

In the middle of the fight

so violent, so upsetting



   

                   

that Sergeant Brown

went to the bathroom,



   

                   

did a number two during his fight.



   

                   

Extremely emotional,

extremely powerful.



   

                   

And yet, both bears

back in pursuit of Saturn,



   

                   

including Mickey, who appears

to have gotten the worse for the wear



   

                   

in the fight between

Sergeant Brown and Mickey



   

                   

for the right to court Saturn,

the queen of the Grizzly Sanctuary.



   

                   

Amazing.



   

                   

Oh, Mickey, I love you. And Mickey's

now the closest bear to Saturn.



   

                   

Back in like a horse in a race

that does not give up.



   

                   

We love that bear. Mickey!

We love him! We love him.



   

                   

But, Mickey,

I've been down that street.



   

                   

You don't always get the chick you want.

Let me tell you.



   

                   

It doesn't always often work out.



   

                   

Hey, he's after my own heart.



   

                   

He don't give up,

even when it looks shitty.



   

                   

All right, love you, Mickey.

Love you, Mickey.



   

                   

I just wanna discuss that fight

with Mickey bear right here.



   

                   

He's right next to me here

in the Grizzly Sanctuary on the tide fly.



   

                   

Saturn off to camera left.



   

                   

Mick, you underestimated Sergeant Brown.

You went in for the head.



   

                   

He seemed to be rope-a-doping you

like he wasn't that tough.



   

                   

And then once you

banged into him,



   

                   

man, he turned out to be

one heck of a rough bear,



   

                   

a very rough bear.



   

                   

I was so scared, I almost got sick

to my stomach watching you fight.



   

                   

Then when he knocked you down

and you were down on your back,



   

                   

it was terrible,

it was terrible!



   

                   

I'm not duking it out for any girl like that.

I'm telling you right now.



   

                   

I'm not duking it out

for any girl, but l...



   

                   

Well, I've had my troubles

with the girls. Yeah, yeah.



   

                   

And I'll tell you something.

If Saturn was a female human...



   

                   

I can just see how beautiful

she is as a bear.



   

                   

I've always called her the Michelle Pfeiffer

of bears out here.



   

                   

All right, you lay there.

I'm gonna go off with your girlfriend.



   

                   

Don't beat me up over it.



   

                   

I'm cool, I'm cool. I'm respectful.



   

                   

Things are bad for me

with the human women,



   

                   

but not so bad that I have

to be hitting on bears yet.



   

                   

Okay? Okay.



   

                   

In his diaries,



   

                   

Treadwell speaks often of the human world

as something foreign.



   

                   

He made a clear distinction between

the bears and the people's world



   

                   

which moved further and further

into the distance.



   

                   

Wild, primordial nature was

where he felt truly at home.



   

                   

We explored the glacier in the back country

of his Grizzly Sanctuary.



   

                   

This gigantic complexity

of tumbling ice and abysses



   

                   

separated Treadwell

from the world out there.



   

                   

And more so, it seems to me

that this landscape in turmoil



   

                   

is a metaphor of his soul.



   

                   

Off there in the distance

is his bay and his campsite



   

                   

where he battled his demons.



   

                   

What drove Timothy

into the wild?



   

                   

We visited his parents

in Florida.



   

                   

Timothy grew up with

four siblings in Long Island



   

                   

in a solid middle-class family



   

                   

where the father worked as the foreman

of a construction team



   

                   

for a telephone company.



   

                   

There must have been

an urge to escape



   

                   

the safety of

his protected environment.



   

                   

I was moved to find that among

all memorabilia in the house,



   

                   

his mother was clutching

Timothy's favorite bear.



   

                   

This has been to Alaska

many times.



   

                   

I'm sure he loved it

to the end, you know?



   

                   

It's just... his childhood toy.



   

                   

Tim's childhood pointed towards

nothing extraordinary.



   

                   

A normal everyday kid.



   

                   

Never any trouble in school.

Always a good student.



   

                   

Not an "A" student,

a "B" student.



   

                   

And got along great

with kids and animals.



   

                   

Him and I were extremely connected

to animals in the house.



   

                   

I think more so

than anybody else.



   

                   

This squirrel named Willie



   

                   

became Timothy's best friend.



   

                   

Teddy bears meant a lot to him.



   

                   

He seemed to develop into

an all-American boy, handsome,



   

                   

athletic, full of promise.



   

                   

He excelled on

his high school swim team.



   

                   

He went to Bradley University

on a diving scholarship.



   

                   

I think he started drinking

out there and having,



   

                   

you know, just hanging out

with the wrong people.



   

                   

Then he injured his back.

And he ended up



   

                   

losing his scholarship

and coming back home.



   

                   

He did attempt to smoke

marijuana in the house.



   

                   

Yeah, he did.



   

                   

But I put the kibosh on that.



   

                   

But obviously he was

doing it elsewhere, so...



   

                   

He really wanted a new start,

a fresh start.



   

                   

So when he went out to California,

he was    or   .



   

                   

He wasn't a young    or   -year-old.

He was of age.



   

                   

He'd gotten a job just to make money

on the Queen Mary at the gift shop.



   

                   

He did hire an agent.



   

                   

He did change his name

to Treadwell to be theatrical.



   

                   

And it was a family name.



   

                   

I know he got on



   

                   

Love Connection

with Chuck Woolery.



   

                   

I think he got on another show.



   

                   

There were promises made

that never came true.



   

                   

And he tested with the actors



   

                   

to get the bartender job

on Cheers.



   

                   

And allegedly he came in second

to Woody Harrelson.



   

                   

How close a second?

I don't know.



   

                   

But that is what

really destroyed him.



   

                   

That he did not get

that job on Cheers.



   

                   

He spiraled down.



   

                   

Timmy used to body surf out here.



   

                   

He had a boogie board

with the Union Jack on it.



   

                   

And he was totally fearless.



   

                   

The amazing thing about Timmy

was he did...



   

                   

He had this Prince Valiant haircut.



   

                   

And he could surf

and go under water,



   

                   

and yet still that hair would hide

his receding hairline.



   

                   

It was the most

amazing thing I'd ever seen.



   

                   

No matter how rough the surf,



   

                   

you never saw Timmy's forehead.



   

                   

I don't know how he did that.



   

                   

How's the hair look?



   

                   

At some point in Timmy's life,



   

                   

he had a near fatal overdose.



   

                   

How he survived it,

I don't know.



   

                   

He was a tough guy.



   

                   

But I guess it was

an epiphany for him.



   

                   

After that he was looking

for a different persona.



   

                   

I guess that's when

he came up with



   

                   

where he was from

and his delightful accent.



   

                   

I never questioned it.



   

                   

Treadwell's need to invent

a new persona for himself



   

                   

led him to elaborate

fabrications.



   

                   

He claimed to be an orphan

from Australia,



   

                   

and even checked out details

of a small town in the Australian outback



   

                   

in order to sound convincing.



   

                   

His accent, though,

remained suspicious.



   

                   

It almost sounded more Kennedy-esque

than Australian.



   

                   

After Timmy's death,



   

                   

people said, "Well, don't you feel

betrayed that he did that?



   

                   

That he didn't tell you the truth

about his accent or his origins?"



   

                   

And that never bothered me.



   

                   

Timmy always amused me.



   

                   

There's an old saying

on the farm,



   

                   

"If it doesn't scare the cows,

who cares?"



   

                   

Well, I don't think

Timmy ever scared the cows,



   

                   

so who cares?



   

                   

He was troubled.

I mean, it...



   

                   

One time he went to a doctor.



   

                   

They wanted to put him on some kind

of an antidepressant or something



   

                   

to keep his mood, 'cause his moods

were so up and down.



   

                   

And he started taking it for a while,

and then he stopped.



   

                   

He said, "I had to stop."

I said, "Why?"



   

                   

He said, "Because I can't stop.

I can't have the middle grounds.



   

                   

I have to have the highs

and the lows.



   

                   

It's a part of my life,

it's a part of my personality."



   

                   

He definitely had a dark side.



   

                   

He was mixed up in drugs which makes you

mixed up in bad people, people with guns.



   

                   

Timothy always had a sense of justice

that was his own.



   

                   

So he got into a lot,

a lot of trouble.



    

                   

I think that...



    

                   

How dangerous?



    

                   

How dangerous? I mean...



    

                   

I don't think he would've ever...

He couldn't have ever killed anybody.



    

                   

He always kept it in check. One thing

that we did every once in a while



    

                   

which just seems so bizarre

by now, but it's...



    

                   

We would go, when we lived in the Valley,

to the Van Nuys courthouse.



    

                   

We would watch when criminals

were being sentenced.



    

                   

We would watch people

getting their sentence.



    

                   

And I think we did it...

I did it just for shock value,



    

                   

and because it was something

I had never done.



    

                   

But he did it, I think,

to remind him



    

                   

if he went to that dark place,

what his life would be.



    

                   

I'm in love

with my animal friends.



    

                   

I'm in love with my animal friends!

In love with my animal friends.



    

                   

I'm very, very troubled.



    

                   

It's very emotional.



    

                   

It's probably not cool

even looking like this.



    

                   

I'm so in love with them, and they're

so f-ed over, which so sucks.



    

                   

Do you know you're the star

for all the children.



    

                   

They love you. And I love you so much,

and thank you.



    

                   

Thank you for being my friend.



    

                   

Isn't this... so sad?



    

                   

This is a bumblebee



    

                   

who expired as it was working



    

                   

at doing the pollen thing

on this Alaskan fireweed.



    

                   

And it just is... Just has

really touched me to no end.



    

                   

It was doing its duty,

it was flying around.



    

                   

Working busy as a bee,

and it died right there.



    

                   

It's beautiful, it's sad,

it's tragic.



    

                   

I love that bee.



    

                   

Well, the bee moved.



    

                   

Was it sleeping?



    

                   

There's your poop.



    

                   

It just came out of her butt.



    

                   

I can feel it.



    

                   

I can feel the poop.



    

                   

It's warm.

It just came from her butt.



    

                   

This was just inside of her.



    

                   

My girl.



    

                   

I'm touching it.



    

                   

It's her poop.

It's Wendy's poop.



    

                   

I know it may seem weird that I touched

her poop, but it was inside of her.



    

                   

It's what... It's her life!



    

                   

It's her! And she's

so precious to me.



    

                   

She gave me Downey.

Downey's... I adore Downey.



    

                   

Everything about them is perfect.



    

                   

Perfection belonged to the bears.



    

                   

But once in a while,

Treadwell came face-to-face



    

                   

with the harsh reality

of wild nature.



    

                   

This did not fit into

his sentimentalized view



    

                   

that everything out there

was good,



    

                   

and the universe in balance

and in harmony.



    

                   

Male bears sometimes kill cubs to stop

the females from lactating,



    

                   

and thus have them ready again

for fornication.



    

                   

Oh, God!



    

                   

I love you.



    

                   

I love you and I



    

                   

don't understand.



    

                   

It's a painful world.



    

                   

Here I differ with Treadwell.



    

                   

He seemed to ignore the fact that

in nature there are predators.



    

                   

I believe the common denominator

of the universe is not harmony,



    

                   

but chaos, hostility and murder.



    

                   

He wandered too far

from the den.



    

                   

And the wolves last night

that I heard howling,



    

                   

screeching in glee

and excitement,



    

                   

it was over the termination

of one of the babies.



    

                   

This Expedition     

has taken a sad turn,



    

                   

but it is a real turn.



    

                   

And I mourn the death

of this gorgeous baby fox.



    

                   

Good-bye, little fox.



    

                   

Get out of his eye,

you friggin' fly!



    

                   

Don't do it when I'm around.

Have some respect, you fucker.



    

                   

Most disturbing for him



    

                   

was to find the skull

of a young bear.



    

                   

In the summer of     

came an extended drought.



    

                   

The creek was so low that for weeks

there was no salmon run,



    

                   

and starving bears

simply ate their own.



    

                   

It has been only five, not even six days

since the baby died.



    

                   

And this is all that's left

of the little tyke.



    

                   

That's it!

There's nothing else left.



    

                   

They've eaten everything.



    

                   

It's so sad.

She was so cute.



    

                   

Five days and all

that's left is a skull.



    

                   

This called for desperate measures.



    

                   

There are fish lining up

about to try to make a run.



    

                   

And now they have a good reason for going

because I have built them a corridor.



    

                   

Let's have a look at it.

What I have done is... Have a look.



    

                   

I've constructed a runway for them,

a navigational trail.



    

                   

When interference with nature

was not enough,



    

                   

he had to invoke higher powers.



    

                   

Oh, live TV.

Live on tape.



    

                   

Okay, so here's the deal.

Pull this down a little bit.



    

                   

It's September   .



    

                   

It's the year     .

It's Expedition     .



    

                   

There has not been a substantial rainfall

for almost two months.



    

                   

The fish have not run since

about August   August  .



    

                   

We are now getting our first rain,

but it has just slowed down.



    

                   

We need at least   inches,

I think even   inches of rain.



    

                   

In the last two hours, we're up

a little over.   inches of rain.



    

                   

That is not enough. We're gonna

need more rain. We need more rain!



    

                   

Downey is hungry!

Tabitha's hungry!



    

                   

Melissa is eating her babies.



    

                   

I'm like a fucking nut.

We've got to have some rain.



    

                   

I'm not a religious guy. No.



    

                   

But I'm telling ya,

I'm just pissed because...



    

                   

It just doesn't seem right.

It just doesn't seem right.



    

                   

I know it's just weather

and crap like that, and it's...



    

                   

I don't know what

the variables are.



    

                   

But we've gotta have

some goddamn rain!



    

                   

So if there's a God,

Downey needs to eat!



    

                   

Dump on us. Hurt us!



    

                   

Come on!



    

                   

Think rain.



    

                   

Think rain.



    

                   

Just a crappy little shower right now.

What kind of crappy... Come on!



    

                   

Take this again.



    

                   

Does not make me

very, very happy.



    

                   

I want rain. I want, if there's a God,

to kick some ass down here.



    

                   

Let's have some water!



    

                   

Jesus, boy!

Let's have some water!



    

                   

Christ man or Allah



    

                   

or Hindu floaty thing,



    

                   

let's have some fucking water

for these animals!



    

                   

It is now September    Thursday

of the year     . Expedition     .



    

                   

I am the Lord's humble servant.



    

                   

I am Allah's disciple.



    

                   

I am the floaty thing's go-for boy.



    

                   

There has been a miracle here.

There has been an absolute miracle.



    

                   

It has rained  .   inches

of rain today.



    

                   

We have over   inches now in the storm,

and it is not stopping.



    

                   

It may hit   inches of rain.



    

                   

It went from a trickle to a flood.

And it's amazing.



    

                   

And we have a really,

really great chance



    

                   

of a run of fish for the animals.



    

                   

And what is even more miraculous,



    

                   

according to my radio,

it is not raining much



    

                   

around anywhere else

but around here.



    

                   

Oops.



    

                   

Well, it's now after  :  

on October  .



    

                   

And the tent has caved in

due to the storm.



    

                   

I'm still here with my little teddy bear,

Tabitha bear.



    

                   

And I think the storm's actually

gotten a little weaker, but



    

                   

in the course of it getting stronger,

it crushed the wall in and bent the poles.



    

                   

And you really can't do much about it

because once they get like that,



    

                   

they just stay kind of bent in

and you're screwed and all that.



    

                   

This is my life.

This is what I do.



    

                   

And l... I love it. I love it.



    

                   

Even this, I love it.



    

                   

My tent crushed in. I love it.

It's pathetic, but I love it.



    

                   

Hello, hello, hello



    

                   

Are you scared, little bear?



    

                   

The storm's gonna go on

and on and on.



    

                   

It doesn't look like I may get outta here

for another week or so.



    

                   

Oh, look at this. I put my tripod

up to shore up the tent.



    

                   

I put a pole up there, so now I got a tent.

That's a pretty good idea, huh?



    

                   

Aha! Pretty good for me.



    

                   

We have about       brown

grizzly bears here in Alaska.



    

                   

What we can tell, it's a very healthy population,

it's a stable population.



    

                   

Of course, you have to be careful with bears

because they have unique needs,



    

                   

especially the grizzly bear.



    

                   

They need large areas.

They have low reproductive rates.



    

                   

You have to be cautious in the way

you utilize those animals.



    

                   

Bear hunting, as an example,



    

                   

is a very important aspect

of the economy.



    

                   

$        a year

is spent on bear hunts.



    

                   

Here on Kodiak Island

we have about      bears.



    

                   

Each year we harvest

about     of those.



    

                   

Through our research, we found that you can

harvest about  % of the population annually



    

                   

and still have

a healthy group of bears.



    

                   

And poaching?



    

                   

Poaching is not as big

a concern around here



    

                   

as it has been in Russia, for instance,

and some other locations.



    

                   

There is some poaching

that occurs for gall bladders



    

                   

or some bears that

are just killed wantonly



    

                   

because people don't like them

or they're afraid of them.



    

                   

But for the most part, here on Kodiak

and on the Alaska peninsula,



    

                   

it is a very rare occurrence

in the last    years.



    

                   

Despite the statistics,



    

                   

Treadwell became

increasingly paranoid



    

                   

about his enemy, the poacher.



    

                   

And it's gotten to be September,

near October.



    

                   

It's the time of year

where poachers can come around.



    

                   

It's time for me to go in my guerrilla-style

camouflage outfit.



    

                   

Downey still recognizes me

by talking to her. Don't you?



    

                   

Yeah, I'm the big crazy guy with the...

or the skinny crazy guy



    

                   

with the camouflage makeup on.



    

                   

They're armed with pepper spray

and rocks.



    

                   

In all his video recordings

over the years,



    

                   

this is Treadwell's closest

encounter with intruders.



    

                   

I believe the guide is the person

with the camera.



    

                   

The big camera on the tripod.

There we go. Got a nice close-up of him.



    

                   

He's the one who threw the rock

at Freckles, the bear.



    

                   

It's Quincy.



    

                   

They're throwing rocks at him.



    

                   

They're throwing rocks

at my Quincy.



    

                   

They're gonna stone him,

and then they're gonna photograph him.



    

                   

Oh, that's it!



    

                   

That's enough of this.



    

                   

That's... I can... They hit Quincy.



    

                   

I don't wanna expose myself

to them.



    

                   

I'm submitting this

as Sunday, August  .



    

                   

It is  :   and    seconds

on this day.



    

                   

It's hard to say,

but it's a warning of a sort.



    

                   

And it's obviously here

to upset me.



    

                   

"Hi, Timothy.

See you in summer of     ."



    

                   

Now it doesn't say, "Hi, Timothy.

We're gonna fucking kill you."



    

                   

It doesn't say, "Hi, Timothy. You're fucking

dead. We're gonna chop your legs off.



    

                   

Hey, Timothy,

get the fuck out."



    

                   

It just says, "See you

in the summer of     ."



    

                   

But it is some sort

of a warning.



    

                   

It is some sort of a ha-ha.



    

                   

I don't think it's friendly.



    

                   

Well, it's gotten

a little worse here.



    

                   

The warning, "Hi, Timothy.

See you summer of     ."



    

                   

Now I find this big stack of rocks that were,

you know, put some labor here.



    

                   

We're not calling this

the building of the pyramids.



    

                   

But we are saying

there's a bit of trouble.



    

                   

Now, I'm gonna walk back,

I'm gonna bring you back here.



    

                   

Through my camp.

Let's come through here. Pathway.



    

                   

Here's where...



    

                   

Here's where the sign was, here.

Which is where my tent is.



    

                   

And then we go over where

my bear-proof barrels would be.



    

                   

And we find boulders piled up...



    

                   

Boulders piled up



    

                   

and a happy face indelibly

painted into the rock,



    

                   

like looking at me.



    

                   

Very, very frickin' frightening, huh?



    

                   

Whoever put it there,



    

                   

knew what they were doing.



    

                   

It's a warning.



    

                   

And the thing is, it's better

than a warning, than...



    

                   

It's better than like,

"You're fucking dead" type of thing.



    

                   

It's creepy, baby!

It's creepy.



    

                   

It's Freddy Krueger creepy.



    

                   

There were visitors

every now and then.



    

                   

But for Treadwell,

they were just intruders.



    

                   

An encroaching threat upon what

he considered his Eden.



    

                   

Even the Park Service itself

became an enemy



    

                   

because of its restrictions.



    

                   

I have decided to violate

a federal rule



    

                   

which states

I must camp one mile...



    

                   

Every week I must move one mile after

staying for seven consecutive days.



    

                   

If I was to do that,



    

                   

I would not be able to study these bears,

not be able to protect them.



    

                   

I'd have to move out of the bay

to get a mile out.



    

                   

Therefore I have decided to protest

the United States government



    

                   

and guard these bears anyway

and stay, and I have...



    

                   

In order to get around the rule of not

camping permanently in one spot,



    

                   

he would camouflage and hide

his tent from the Park Service.



    

                   

But more than that,

he was in constant violation



    

                   

of another very reasonable

park rule:



    

                   

That you have to maintain at least     yards

distance from the bears.



    

                   

Ding.



    

                   

Hi. Go back to your friend.

Go back to your friend.



    

                   

Shh, shh, shh.

It's okay.



    

                   

It's okay.



    

                   

You're awfully close.

You're awfully close.



    

                   

Hi. Oh, hi, there!



    

                   

The park restrictions made him

increasingly irate.



    

                   

Well, we're into autumn now.

Expedition      coming to an end.



    

                   

The bears moving safely

towards their winter dens.



    

                   

The foxes hiding in the woods,



    

                   

safe from the humans

that would come to harm them.



    

                   

It's been an amazing season.

It's been difficult.



    

                   

But I came, I served,

I protected and I studied.



    

                   

And I promise, I'll be back.



    

                   

My hair.



    

                   

Expedition      coming to an end for

Grizzly People, for me, Timothy Treadwell.



    

                   

I came here and protected

the animals as best I could.



    

                   

In fact, I'm the only protection

for these animals out here.



    

                   

The government flying over a total

of two times in two months.



    

                   

How dare they!

How dare they challenge me!



    

                   

How dare they smear me

with their campaigns!



    

                   

How dare they, when they do not

look after these animals,



    

                   

and I come here in peace

and in love,



    

                   

neutral in respect.



    

                   

I will continue to do this.

I will fight them.



    

                   

I will be an American dissident

if I need be.



    

                   

There's a patriotic time

going on right now,



    

                   

but as far as this

fucking government's concerned,



    

                   

fuck you,

motherfucking Park Service!



    

                   

Now Treadwell crosses a line

with the Park Service



    

                   

which we will not cross.



    

                   

He attacks the individuals with

whom he worked for    years.



    

                   

I beat your fucking asses!

I protected the animals!



    

                   

I did it! Fuck you!



    

                   

Animals rule.

Timothy conquered.



    

                   

Fuck you, Park Service!



    

                   

Okay.



    

                   

It is clear to me that the Park Service



    

                   

is not Treadwell's real enemy.



    

                   

There's a larger, more

implacable adversary out there:



    

                   

The people's world

and civilization.



    

                   

"Oh, Timothy, I'm getting

a bad feeling about you."



    

                   

He only has mockery

and contempt for it.



    

                   

"I saw you on David Letterman.

You're fairly entertaining."



    

                   

His rage is almost

incandescent, artistic.



    

                   

The actor in his film has

taken over from the filmmaker.



    

                   

I have seen this madness

before on a film set.



    

                   

But Treadwell is not an actor in opposition

to a director or a producer.



    

                   

He's fighting civilization itself.



    

                   

It is the same civilization

that cast Thoreau out of Walden



    

                   

and John Muir into the wild.



    

                   

Animals rule.



    

                   

All right.

That's my happy stuff.



    

                   

Let's do a couple

of nice takes now.



    

                   

Oh, man, did I get angry!

Fuck them, right?



    

                   

They do not watch these animals.

They don't care about these animals.



    

                   

All they wanna do

is screw people like me around.



    

                   

It's amazing. "Let the fishermen

fucking shoot the animals.



    

                   

Let the fucking poachers

come in here and fuck 'em.



    

                   

Let the fucking commercial

people fuck them around



    

                   

with their fucking cameras

and the tourists.



    

                   

But we're gonna go screw

with Timothy Treadwell



    

                   

because he loves animals

and teaches kids for free.



    

                   

Let's go. Let's do that.

That's what we're gonna do."



    

                   

Well, fuck them. Fuck them.

I beat you, motherfuckers. I beat you.



    

                   

Beat ya, so fuck you.



    

                   

I beat ya. I beat ya.



    

                   

I'm the champion.

I'm the fucking champion.



    

                   

I beat you.

I beat your fucking asses.



    

                   

Fucking losers!

Fucking nobodies!



    

                   

Fuck!



    

                   

Fucking fucks!



    

                   

Well, Expedition     

coming to an end.



    

                   

The bears safely moving into their winter dens,

the foxes hiding in the woods.



    

                   

I came here. I studied them,

protected them.



    

                   

And I promise you, I promise the

Grizzly People, I will be back. I will be back.



    

                   

And I thank the animals for keeping

me safe and for inspiring me.



    

                   

I thank them so very much.



    

                   

Good-bye.



    

                   

This is my favorite.



    

                   

This is my cowboy.



    

                   

Always in black.

Always sunglasses.



    

                   

And always a bandanna.



    

                   

I miss you terribly.



    

                   

He was very dear to my heart.



    

                   

Very dear to my heart.



    

                   

My heart hurts every day

for him.



    

                   

He was a good friend.



    

                   

I've known him    years.



    

                   

And he just was a good friend.



    

                   

He was a distant friend

in the winter



    

                   

and a close friend

in the summer.



    

                   

And... I helped him do

quite a few things here.



    

                   

He'd always come back.



    

                   

And I was kind of

his confidante here.



    

                   

But I miss him.



    

                   

I miss his... rambunctious personality



    

                   

and his outgoing... his heart,



    

                   

you know, just everything

about him, I think.



    

                   

Kathleen Parker still holds



    

                   

some of

Timothy Treadwell's ashes.



    

                   

She insists that she was

a platonic friend only.



    

                   

She stored his gear in her basement

during the winters.



    

                   

He would set out into

the wilderness from her house.



    

                   

When he would leave,

he would say at my back door,



    

                   

he says, "I love you."



    

                   

He says, "This is going to be

the best year of my life out there."



    

                   

And he says,

"If I don't come back,



    

                   

it's what I want,

this is the way I wanna go."



    

                   

His last camp was just right

in the right-hand edge of this slope.



    

                   

Patch of trees here.



    

                   

Right down here in this...

very end of these trees here.



    

                   

This is his ashes.



    

                   

Some of them for me to spread.



    

                   

And some bear hair, fur.



    

                   

And some weeds.

And what else is in there?



    

                   

There's a little bit of lupin,

there's a little bit of iris.



    

                   

- There's, I think...

- Where did you get the bear fur?



    

                   

- We picked it up off the ground.

- Cool. Cool.



    

                   

Where are we?



    

                   

We are at a campsite

where Timothy last camped.



    

                   

Not where he was killed.

But over here in Hallo Bay.



    

                   

And, Willie, you can...

'cause you brought him over here.



    

                   

His last campsite was right here

in the trees here.



    

                   

He camped there because

he was right between two fox dens.



    

                   

I'd been in the camp there.



    

                   

The fox would come right to the edge

of the tent, and go in their dens.



    

                   

So I think that's probably the main reason

he camped right there.



    

                   

Okay, Timothy.



    

                   

I love you.



    

                   

And rest peacefully.



    

                   

Rest peacefully, my love.



    

                   

Finally figured a way out

to live here forever.



    

                   

He's here forever.



    

                   

This is Timothy Treadwell's

and Amie Huguenard's route



    

                   

to the site of their death.



    

                   

There was a certain absurdity

in their end.



    

                   

As usual, the expedition was over

by the end of September,



    

                   

and both had returned to Kodiak

on their way back to California.



    

                   

Treadwell writes in his diary

that at the airport



    

                   

he had an altercation

with an obese airline agent



    

                   

over the validity of his ticket.



    

                   

"How much I hate

the people's world, " he writes.



    

                   

And disgusted,

he decides right then



    

                   

to return to this spot

and his bears.



    

                   

Once back in the Grizzly Maze,

Amie had mixed feelings.



    

                   

She was afraid of the bears



    

                   

and had a deadline to return

for a new job



    

                   

and spoke openly

about leaving him for good.



    

                   

According to one of the last entries

in Treadwell's diary,



    

                   

Amie called him hell-bent

on destruction.



    

                   

And yet, inexplicably, she remained

with him here in the Maze.



    

                   

Normally Treadwell would not

be here this late in the year.



    

                   

And upon their return,



    

                   

he discovered that many of his bear friends

had gone into hibernation.



    

                   

And scary,

unknown and wilder bears



    

                   

from the interior had moved in.



    

                   

This is the spot where

they set up their last camp.



    

                   

Let me tell you.



    

                   

Honestly, camping in grizzly country

is dangerous.



    

                   

People who camp in grizzly country

should camp out in the open



    

                   

to let the bears know

where the tent is.



    

                   

My camp is unseen.



    

                   

It is the most dangerous camping,

the most dangerous living



    

                   

in the history of the world

by any human being.



    

                   

I have lived longer with wild brown

grizzly bears, without weapons,



    

                   

and that's the key, without weapons,

in modern history



    

                   

than any human on earth,

any human.



    

                   

And I have remained safe.



    

                   

But every second of every day that I move

through this jungle, or even at the tent,



    

                   

I am right on the precipice

of great bodily harm or even death.



    

                   

And I am so thankful

for every minute of every day



    

                   

that I found the bears



    

                   

and this place,

the Grizzly Maze.



    

                   

But let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen.



    

                   

There is no, no, no

other place in the world



    

                   

that is more dangerous, more exciting

than the Grizzly Maze.



    

                   

Come here and camp here.

Come here and try to do what I do.



    

                   

You will die.

You will die here.



    

                   

You will frickin' die here.

They will get you.



    

                   

I found a way. I found a way

to survive with them.



    

                   

Am I a great person?

I don't know. I don't know.



    

                   

We're all great people. Everyone has

something in them that's wonderful.



    

                   

I'm just different. And I love these bears

enough to do it right.



    

                   

And I'm edgy enough

and I'm tough enough.



    

                   

But mostly I love these bears enough

to survive and do it right.



    

                   

And I'm never giving this up.

Never giving it up.



    

                   

Never giving up the Maze.

Never.



    

                   

This is it.

This is my life.



    

                   

This is my land.



    

                   

Very late in the process

of editing this film,



    

                   

we were given access

to Treadwell's last videotape.



    

                   

Here he may have filmed

his murderer.



    

                   

The killer bear we know

was a male



    

                   

whom years earlier

the Park Service had anesthetized.



    

                   

They extracted a tooth

which established him



    

                   

as being   

at the time of the attack.



    

                   

Quite old for a bear.



    

                   

They also tagged him

via a tattoo on his inner lip.



    

                   

They had given him

a number only,    .



    

                   

Bear    .

That's all we know of him.



    

                   

And here.

Could this one be Bear    ?



    

                   

What looks playful

could be desperation.



    

                   

So late in the season,

the bear is diving deep



    

                   

for one of the few

remaining salmon carcasses



    

                   

at the bottom of the lake.



    

                   

Treadwell keeps filming the bear

with a strange persistence.



    

                   

And all of a sudden, this.



    

                   

Is Amie trying

to get out of the shot?



    

                   

Did Treadwell wait till his last tape

to put her in his film?



    

                   

And what haunts me,

is that in all the faces



    

                   

of all the bears

that Treadwell ever filmed,



    

                   

I discover no kinship,

no understanding, no mercy.



    

                   

I see only the overwhelming

indifference of nature.



    

                   

To me, there is no such thing

as a secret world of the bears.



    

                   

And this blank stare speaks

only of a half-bored interest in food.



    

                   

But for Timothy Treadwell,

this bear was a friend, a savior.



    

                   

Amie Huguenard was screaming.



    

                   

All of a sudden, the intensity

of Amie's screaming



    

                   

reached a new height

and became very, very loud.



    

                   

And she really now was screaming

at the top of her lungs.



    

                   

These horrifying screams

were punctuated by Timothy saying,



    

                   

"Go away. Leave me.

Go away. Run! Get out of here."



    

                   

In other words, Timothy is trying

now to save Amie's life



    

                   

because Timothy realizes,

at this point in time during this attack,



    

                   

Timothy knows he's gonna die.



    

                   

He knows that.



    

                   

My sense of listening

to this tape



    

                   

is that the bear let go,

probably let go



    

                   

of the top of his head where

I found massive lacerations.



    

                   

That is tears of the scalp

away from his head.



    

                   

Suddenly, though, the bear,

after letting go,



    

                   

grabbed Timothy somewhere

in the high leg area.



    

                   

And Timothy, appropriately in my opinion,

as a human being,



    

                   

decided now is the time

to save one life anyway.



    

                   

If his life was going away,

if his life was fading away,



    

                   

now was the time

for Amie to get out.



    

                   

The expedition coming close to a close,



    

                   

but I'm still here.



    

                   

It's been over four months

in the wilderness.



    

                   

And a hurricane-force

storm now building.



    

                   

Over   -mile-an-hour winds,

soon over   .



    

                   

The bears safely

heading for their dens.



    

                   

The work...

the work successful.



    

                   

I'm over    pounds lighter.

My clothes are rags.



    

                   

I've tried hard. I bleed for them,

I live for them, I die for them.



    

                   

I love them. I love this.



    

                   

It's tough work.



    

                   

But it's the only work I know.

It's the only work I'll ever want.



    

                   

Take care of these animals.

Take care of this land.



    

                   

He seems to hesitate in leaving

the last frame of his own film.



    

                   

It's the only thing I know.



    

                   

It's the only thing

I wanna know.



    

                   

Treadwell is gone.



    

                   

The argument how wrong

or how right he was



    

                   

disappears into a distance

into a fog.



    

                   

What remains is his footage.



    

                   

And while we watch the animals

in their joys of being,



    

                   

in their grace

and ferociousness,



    

                   

a thought becomes

more and more clear.



    

                   

That it is not so much

a look at wild nature



    

                   

as it is an insight

into ourselves, our nature.



    

                   

And that, for me,

beyond his mission,



    

                   

gives meaning to his life

and to his death.



    

                   

Now the longhorns are gone



    

                   

And the drovers are gone



    

                   

The Comanches are gone



    

                   

And the outlaws are gone



    

                   

Geronimo's gone



    

                   

And Sam Bass is gone



    

                   

And the lion is gone



    

                   

- And the red wolf is gone

- And Treadwell is gone



    

                   

Well, he cursed all the roads

and the old mule



    

                   

And he cursed the automobile



    

                   

Said this is no place

for an hombre like I am



    

                   

In this new world

of asphalt and steel



    

                   

Then he'd look off

someplace in the distance



    

                   

At something

only he could see



    

                   

He'd say all that's left now

are the old days



    

                   

Damned old coyotes and me



    

                   

And they'd go



    

                   

Now the longhorns are gone



    

                   

And the drovers are gone



    

                   

The Comanches are gone



    

                   

The outlaws are gone



    

                   

Now Quantrill is gone



    

                   

Stan Wanty is gone



    

                   

And the lion is gone



    

                   

And the red wolf is gone



    

                   

One morning they searched

his adobe



    

                   

He disappeared

without even a word



    

                   

But that night as the moon

crossed the mountain



    

                   

One more coyote was heard



    

                   

And he'd go