15 Devastating Documentaries That Mustn't Be Ignored

5. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)

Much of this film is the video diary of Timothy Treadwell, an amateur expert in grizzly bears who spent much of his time detached from the rest of the world, living alone amongst grizzlies in Alaska. He was a man with compassion beyond belief for these creatures and a desire to be near to them as often as possible, which ultimately led to his demise at the hand of them. Grizzly Man is a truly heart-wrenching story, narrated eloquently by Herzog himself, who clearly sympathises with Treadwell and his sadness for the man is deep. Simultaneously, he is staggered by the audacity of Treadwell and the fact that much of his video diary shows that he may have bordered on insanity as he approached and even touched grizzly bears in their own habitats. Inter-cut with family and witness interviews, none more shocking than with the man who found his body, the film is a brilliant nature documentary that slowly adapts into the story of a man losing his mind and his identity as a human and then ultimately his death, also captured by the microphone of his camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWycuaWJFCM