Grizzly Man

Warren said he wants to hear the tape of the guy getting eaten by a bear. Why is it necessary to listen to someone's agonizing death screams to understand the irony of the story?

If you're with Warren on wanting to hear the man dying, then I have to agree to disagree on the matter of taste.

Good taste is a primary reason Werner Herzog won the Director's Guild of America award for best documentary film director, and why he is nominated for an Academy Award. I guarantee he would not be nominated for any awards had he included the tape in the movie.

Tvad baby, lighten up...have a bear burger..

02-28-06: Warrenh
Tvad baby, lighten up...have a bear burger..

Sorry, Warren, this is a fascinating film, but listening to someone die is not a topic I find humorous.

Peace, baby.

TVAD, I certainly can appreciate your perspective. It is beyond irony, beyond questions of taste, and all about insight. My point was about tapping into a penultimate moment that brought this guy to a very real completeness. It may not be for everyone -that's for sure. I did not mean to imply that it would be enjoyable, just instructive. We're talking about somebody that was enamoured with and played with fresh fecal matter from a bear and became truly one with the bear. His final moments may show an otherwise unknowable facet of his unique existence.

Who cares a flip about awards? - oh yeah, the director and people that are marketing the thing. That's always a great guiding principle for artistic expression.

Maineiac, you mention having seen the film on Discovery Channel, but I wonder if you saw the scene in which Werner Herzog is listening to the tape with headphones while Grizzly Man's ex girlfriend is watching him with unbearable pain on her face? The expression on her face, and Herzog's recommendation to destroy the tape and never listen to it, provides more insight to the audience than hearing the tape ever could.

Grizzly Man's death is not a penultimate moment. It is his ultimate moment, and were his ultimate moment not his death, perhaps it should be shared with the world. Do you wish your death to be shared with anyone who pays $9.00 to witness it? Thankfully, Herzog was sensitive enough to use proper judgement.

In my opinion, it is simply bad taste to include footage, or audio tape of someone's death in a film intended to be released for commercial purposes. I respect your opinion to the contrary, but there is no argument that will ever pursuade me to change my mind on this point, so we will have to agree to disagree.

Regarding awards, and particularly the DGA awards (as well as the SAG and WGA awards), I can assure you the members of the Directors Guild take nominating and voting for their members very seriously. Among directors, receiving the DGA award from one's peers carries more meaning than an Oscar, which I agree has become quite commercial. Nevertheless, Oscar caliber achievements are usually excellent indicators of outstanding work by which the work of others is measured.