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Since first reading about this film, it became something I had to see. It takes a lot to make me this excited about a film. And usually I’m let down, however with this documentary my expectations were exceeded.

Timothy Treadwell was a failed actor who became a semi-celebrity because for 13 years he spent his summers living with and protecting the wild bears of the Alaskan wilderness. It didn’t matter that they were on a nature reserve and that poaching really wasn’t a problem in the area, Treadwell was on a mission. He filmed more than 100 hours of himself in the wild getting way too close to bears and befriending wild foxes. The tragedy of the tale is that he was eaten by one of the bears in 2003. As a helicopter pilot in the film says, “He got what he was asking for.”

It may be true that Treadwell, who constantly flaunted the danger of what he was doing, was asking for it, but what is also true is that his girlfriend Amie Huguenard was afraid of bears and didn’t want to go and was eaten as well. Famed director Werner Herzog combines the footage that Treadwell shot with interviews of the people that knew him to construct a portrait of Treadwell’s complex personality. He was nuts for almost certain, but he was only searching for a purpose in life like all of us do. What may be more tragic than his death is that he probably did nothing to help the bears or at worst hurt them by letting them get to accustomed to the presence of humans.

The story may sound sad, but the film is hilarious. Treadwell is a one-man comedy team and doesn’t even know it. His naiveté, flamboyant behavior and underlying resentment and anger all brought together under Herzog’s cynical and attentive eye makes for a movie experience that will be unforgettable. If this story weren’t real you wouldn’t buy it.

Making the film even more powerful is the way Herzog counters the absurdity of Treadwell’s behavior with his tender and vulnerable side. The man was trying to do something good, but went about it for all the wrong reasons and didn’t have the knowledge or skills to make it work. He’s like an environmentalist Ed Wood.

The footage that Treadwell filmed is astonishing. Some of the animal footage is better than anything that you’ve seen in National Geographic docs. Treadwell and Huguenard’s death was actually recorded on camera with the lens cap on. Herzog was asked not to use the gruesome audio in the film, so he was the coroner describe the event and he himself is seen on screen listening to it and telling Treadwell’s friend she should destroy it, because it will always be the white elephant in her room. In this bizarre story about a bizarre man, Herzog has crafted a piece of art that says volumes about the human condition. This is one of the best documentaries you will ever see.