German director Werner Herzog is 76 years old and has directed 71 films so far. In 2016, he won the "Golden Carriage Award" for the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. In the award speech, the French Film Directors Association described the 74-year-old madman as follows:
We pay tribute to Herzog’s perseverance and extraordinary creativity, as well as his ability to take into account multiple forms, creative conventions and systems. He blurs the relationship between feature films and documentaries, feature films and television, reason and madness.的分线。 The dividing line.
Regarding his own vision of documentary films, Herzog responded this way:
When shooting a documentary, I will add a lot of things that ordinary documentaries don’t have, and it’s more stylized. Sometimes I design the plot and sometimes create the event, but my purpose is not to deceive the audience, but to lead the audience to a deeper reality. Gain a deeper understanding, a definite and enlightening understanding of the people and things that appear in my films.
Teacher Wang Pei strongly recommended this lunatic and paranoid genius director in his writing class, in which he talked about the narrative technique of "Grizzly Man" and the handling of details; "Grizzly Man" is a 2005 movie by Herzog The movie is also his first movie I watched, and I will finish watching all his works in the future. Now talk about this "Grizzly Man".
The documentary "Grizzly Man" tells the story of animal conservationist Timothy and his girlfriend who lived with a grizzly bear for 13 years without protection. However, this life also ended in the 13th year: He and his girlfriend were eventually eaten by bears. Timothy took five years and a total of more than 100 hours to record the grizzly bears, including him himself. Timothy was irritable and radical. Herzog completed the film by editing these materials and adding his own post-shooting. Obviously, this is not a documentary that promotes the protection of animals or the nature of man, god, and nature. It provides us with a different interpretation of this initial story.
There are also a few questions:
- What moved Herzog to make this film?
- Why did Timothy choose to live alone with bears?
- What attitude does Herzog aim to convey through this film?
Herzog has the same qualities as Timothy, and this may be the most important factor that impresses him. Timothy's almost crazy fascination with Grizzlies is similar to Herzog's love and dedication to movies. Herzog wrote a script at the age of 15 and used a stolen camera to make a movie. During his long career as a director, he died in order to make the film; as he said: I should not make a movie, I should go to a mental hospital . Take a look at his 24 recommendations in life: carry the cutter with you. In order to take a shot I want, it is not a bad thing to spend a night in prison. If necessary, choose revenge... Because of his paranoia and wildness, he has created a prolific and legendary life. The difference is that Herzog is a rational and calm thinker, but Timothy has been addicted, it is a sacred death with a sense of religious ritual, he did not really realize why he died here, although this may be what he wanted .
Before Timothy became a grizzly bear conservationist, he had a history of serious drug and alcohol abuse, and broke the law many times, even lied about his identity, and kept his sense of mystery until he met a grizzly bear; he also found it. His kind. He said: I will become one of them, and I will become their master. Even threatened: I would never kill a bear by protecting myself. In fact, he did it, in a gesture of surrender.
How does Herzog view this incident? ————
In his (Timothy) material there is a hidden story about amazing beauty and depth. I found a movie about human ecstasy and the darkest inner struggle, as if he (Timothy) had a desire in his heart, he wanted to escape the bondage of his inner humanity and join the bear. By doing this, he undoubtedly transcended the invisible. Borders.
Is Timothy a true Grizzly conservationist? The group of grizzly bears he claimed to protect is in a remote area of Alaska, which is protected by the federal government and is part of Katmai Park. Grizzly bears are not threatened here. On the contrary, the number of grizzly bears here is increasing every year, and there is no potential threat to grizzly bears. The four seasons of droughts and floods, the ecological chain of the weak and the strong, and the survival instinct of animals, these phenomena are normal in nature, all make Timothy feel compassionate, and what he did for the grizzlies was to transform a small creek that couldn't be smaller.
Unlike Timothy, Herzog recognizes the existence of disharmony and chaos, hostility, and murder in the world. Timothy amplifies the hostility between humans and animals, of course he is on the side of the grizzly bear. To this end, he conceived many imaginary enemies: nature, poachers, park service centers, and even the entire human race. It's not hard to understand that living alone with a grizzly bear for 13 years.
If his death is because he blurred the boundary between man and bear, it is better to say that he has demarcated the boundary between him and man. Xiong is just an excuse to escape from society. He advocates the strength and wildness of bears, and hopes to be a member of bears, rather than hope to have the strength and wildness of bears to fight against the human world.
The most mysterious person in this documentary is not Timothy. Timothy's girlfriend at the time only showed one face in the film and refused to take the shot. Her death was even more tragic. She refused to leave Timothy, who was torn by a bear, and eventually died with him almost as a burial. There is no more information about her in the film. Why did she choose to go this way of no return with Timothy? Does she support or disagree with Timothy? Does she have a vision for the future? This is an eternal mystery. Timothy also has an ex-girlfriend and a pink confidant. Her pink confidante said that she liked Timothy's grumpy temper.
Timothy's legend must be more than just a controversial grizzly conservationist. Three women, one died for him, one was willing to be a widow, and the other threw ashes for him. This kid, it's okay. Aligning from this angle is another documentary.
End with an interview by Herzog:
In my opinion, Timothy's view of nature is a bit sad, a Disney-style view, and this view of the wilderness makes me very disgusted.
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