Abstract

Thomas Elsaesser (2014) presents us with a timely definition for found footage films, which consists of using archival material to create new contexts for those found images, which in turn allows for new associations and meanings that lead to new ideas and understandings. This article contends that Timothy Treadwell’s found footage fell into the hands of the one who could best make use of it, both from a creative point of view and from the perspective that Treadwell’s images would be treated respectfully. The film Grizzly Man (2005), by Werner Herzog (1942-), investigates the life and death of Timothy Treadwell (1957-2003), a conservationist and self-proclaimed savior of the Alaskan grizzly bear. He spent thirteen summers among these animals before being killed by one, together with his companion Amie Huguenard (1966-2003). Had some of Treadwell’s footage, seen in Herzog’s film, been used in a different context, the creation of a caricatural image of the adventurer would not have been unlikely. Werner Herzog has an extensive and successful career. For Lúcia Nagib, he tries, through cinema, “to recover something like a ‘virgin look’, which will determine, on the one hand, his way of filming and, on the other (as a result of the first), its whole theme”. Thus, considering his entire career as a director, it is unsurprising that upon hearing of a man who lived among wild bears in Alaska and was killed by one of them, Herzog would probably be interested in shooting this story.