So, DISHnetwork has been kind enough to give us free movie weekends on Showtime and Starz! recently, therefore our DVR has been busy recording stuff.? We caught up with a few movies from awhile back yesterday:
Grizzly Man was about Timothy Treadwell, a self-proclaimed “bear savior” who spent 13 summers in Alaska “protecting” the bears there.? He took over 100 hours of video footage, some of which is in this 3 hour documentary.? The rest of the movie involves interviews with Timothy’s friends and relatives.? You see, Timothy was mauled by a bear up in Alaska…and, honestly, watching himself on the recordings just shows how nuts he really was…and I say “nuts” in the “clinically insane” sort of way.?? I mean, he had no scientific background…he just went up there and spent the summer living with bears…with no knowledge of their lives and how they’re wild animals…? While you have to admire his dedication to the cause, you also have to realize that he treated grizzly bears like people…he would follow them around and talk to them and pet them…and he would also talk to foxes and tell them how much he loves them.? Each animal got a different name.? This guy was crazy.? Overall, it was a pretty good movie, but started to feel pretty long toward the end…
Hotel Rwanda, on the other hand, was a really good movie. ? It centers on the true story of a man in Rwanda that took in refugees during the murder of about 1,000,000 Tutsi people by the Hutu (well, both sides had heavy losses).? As Wikipedia tells us, the really sad thing is how little anyone did to intervene.? There are many scenes where the UN has “peacekeepers” down there, yet they can’t fire and can’t protect anyone…? Don Cheadle’s character saved over 1,200 people by putting them in the hotel he manages, keeping their presence a secret for a long time, then helping to get them out of the country.? The only downside is that the movie gets kinda confusing, not knowing which side is who and what exactly is going on…? I recommend looking up a little info on the Rwandan genocide before watching, just so you have a little basis of what’s going on…? Supposedly, the movie is pretty accurate, from a historical point of view…which is that much more depressing…
So yeah, a few movies to check out…w00t to lazy Saturdays…
Sad how we are still doing nothing to intervene in these countries. Sudan (2 million dead) –
http://savedarfur.org/
Oh, and Grizzly man ruled. Its weird how you emphasize how crazy he was. I do agree that he was fact crazy, but the meaning I got out of the movie was entirely different. He did things no one else could do and spent his time doing something that he truly loved. He was genuinly happiest when he was out there with the bears. How many of us can say that about our lives? How many of us are perfeclty happy like that? We might look down on him for being a nut but he would probably look down on us for A) doing nothing for the world (although it is debatable if he really did anything, but he did THINK he was doing something), and B) living a mundane boring life where we aren’t as happy as we could be because we are afraid to take risks.
Regardless of whether you think he is the most despicable person in the world or a real ideological genius, there is a lot to debate coming out of Grizzly Man. That’s why I thought it was excellent. It shows all points of view.
Yeah, I largely agree… I mean, he put a lot of himself into helping bears in Alaska, certainly more than I’d ever do…but there’s a large difference between “ideological genius” and “raving lunatic.” If I really wanted to help protect them and preserve their habitat, I think I’d get into politics and buy a gun to shoot poachers with, rather than living with the bears to keep an eye on them. I mean, this guy knew nothing about bears when he got started. He just went out there. It’s a wonder he wasn’t mauled the first time out…
So yeah, I agree entirely that he put everything he had into what he believed in and, hopefully, made a difference through education of other people and observing the bears in their natural habitat for more consecutive hours than anyone on record. I certainly wouldn’t identify him as “despicable”… If anything, he died the way he wanted to and on his terms. At the same time, if I were to want to save the grizzly bear at the level that he does, I think I would have gone about it somewhat more…um…”intelligently”…