40. Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2010)
When a director such as James Cameron decides to shoot a film in 3D, he creates vibrant, teeming landscapes of incredibly defined beauty and fluorescent creatures. When a director such as Werner Herzog decides to shoot a film in 3D, he shows us line drawings on cave walls, but for a resolute traditionalist such as Herzog to film in this extra, and too often extraneous, dimension is no gimmick. The drawings in the Chauvet Cave in Southern France have remained perfectly preserved for 32,000 years - having only been discovered as recently as 1994. Herzogs six-day shoot (one of the filming stipulations set by Frances Minister of Culture) was such an honour that he requested a fee of just one euro. And its indeed an honour for us to join him and witness the oldest drawings of lions, buffalo, mammoths and insects on earth. Several of the animals are shown with additional legs or repeated lines to suggest movement, a technique the director reads as a form of "proto-cinema". He jabs his torch at every corner, arms swinging like a frenzied conductor, while his mouth rarely leaves the cave floor. His interviews with historians and palaeontologists are only half-serious, as the camera seems to bring out the comedian in all concerned. But the most surreal sight must be the albino crocodiles found in nearby tropical waters. Perhaps delirious from a day underground, Herzog sees these creatures and immediately reels off a fanciful tale about radioactive mutants growing in size. You wonder, rather like Nic Cage in Herzogs remake of Bad Lieutenant, whether he, you or all of us arent simply seeing things.
39. Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, 2002)
You'd be surprised just how tense these competitions can be. Following eight American pre-teens on the road to the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Spellbound becomes so much more than the final contest. Blitz's selection of these eight (from the 249 who qualified) covers a range of cultures, classes and backgrounds. The diversity of these kids may as well have been decided by each of them finding a Golden Ticket. There's Neil, whose parents have "trained" him to learn hundreds of new words a day, Emily, who simply won't accept anything less than first place, and Harry, easily the quirkiest and most amusing/annoying of them all. He makes strange robot noises and scrunches up his face when thinking, eccentricities that have made him the film's literal poster boy. Our competitors are all unabashed nerds, celebrating their correct spelling of words such as "brunneous", "seguidilla" and "logorrhea" as though each letter was a goal punched through the net. Or, yknow, whatever it is that jocks do.
38. The Bridge (Eric Steel, 2006)
It's the "honour" no city wants, but the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is the most popular suicide destination in the world. In order to understand the structure's dark allure, as well as highlight a topic all too often considered taboo, Steel and his crew recorded the Bridge every day for the entirety of 2004. What makes their film especially uncomfortable viewing is the fact that it contains actual footage of people jumping to their deaths. The camera crew were particularly vigilant towards anyone who acted suspiciously around the Bridge; in calling the Highway Patrol, they believe they prevented at least six potential suicide attempts. Yet, most jumpers act on impulse and move too quickly for anyone to intervene. During filming, on average, one person jumped every 15 days. The interviews with those left behind remind us of the people before the statistics, yet one person has more of an insight than most into a jumper's perspective. In 2000, eighteen year old Kevin Hines leapt from the Bridge but, moments before reaching the water, he suddenly changed his mind. In landing feet first, he shattered his spine, but, crucially, survived. To his amazement, he discovered that a seal was keeping him afloat, a miracle he attributes to the intervention of God. It's a belief that he holds to this day.
37. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)
For bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell, summer meant the journey to Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, to live amongst the grizzlies and, in his opinion, protect them from poachers. After thirteen years at the park, he felt that he had earned the bears' trust and formed an inseparable bond with a creature he considered cruelly misunderstood. However, the park rangers saw his visits as a threat to himself and the bears, claiming that he was inadvertently alerting potential poachers to their presence, as well as conditioning them to be unafraid of humans. Treadwell would film the bears, and his interactions with him, often commenting on just how dangerous it was for him to be with them at such close contact. It's clear that he cares deeply for the animals - as he grows anxious when watching them fight - but for anyone watching his films, the warning signs are all there. With a personality you could politely describe as eccentric, Treadwell flits through moods at the slightest provocation. Possessive, short-tempered,deluded... it's no surprise many believed him to have a deathwish. While the outcome may have been perhaps inevitable, it makes it no less of a tragedy. In October 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were attacked and partially eaten by a grizzly bear on the park grounds, and an audio recording of the attack was captured by Treadwell's video camera. After several people refused due to their sentimental connection with the couple, Herzog listens to the recording with earphones. We don't hear what he hears, but we can see just how distressing it is for the director. Huguenard did not share her boyfriend's affinity for the bears, often going so far as to express her "fear" of them, and her final diary entry tells of her desire to leave Katmai. Treadwell himself spoke of feeling uncomfortable around a particular bear; one that had only recently been introduced to the park. The last footage you see of Treadwell alive shows him standing in the foreground while this same bear, frustrated and hungry due to a food shortage, edges into the back of the frame...