The Power of Filmmaking

Filmmaking, especially the editing process, is an incredibly powerful thing. With the ability to take out any parts of an interview, take certain scenes out of context, or determine the order in which you want your audience to view these scenes, you gain the power to completely manipulate your audience.  Timothy Treadwell, the "Grizzly Man," is portrayed as an innocent, childlike character, at least in the first half of Werner Herzog's documentary about him. Despite how delusional Treadwell really is, we sympathize with him, and are somewhat angered by the interviews with people who disagree with what Treadwell was doing. When we hear Sam Hagli, a member of the backup team who was sent out after Treadwell's death was suspected, speak about Treadwell's work, we feel almost defensive of Treadwell. Hagli says that Treadwell was stupidly treating the bears like they were not actually wild animals because he thought he had a special bond with them. Objectively, this is an absurd idea, and it is very dangerous to attempt to interact with a very powerful, wild animal. However, when we see this interview in the context of the rest of the film, we become saddened because we see Treadwell as this innocent, loving man and we don't want him to be hurt by Hagli's doubting words. Obviously, we don't become completely unaware of the fact that Timothy Treadwell is a bit delusional, and that his work is not actually making as much impact as he would say it is, but we want him to continue to be able to believe this. Herzog shows Treadwell giving free talks to schools, and talking about how much he loves these wild animals. He truly, without a doubt, believes that it is his duty to protect these grizzlies, and we want his innocence to remain intact.