Stranger Among Bears = Win
image via blogto.com
Last night I watched Animal Planet for the lulz, but what I got was a treat.
Charlie Vandergraw is a retired schoolteacher who lives in a special place in Alaska. A place where the Black Bears and Grizzly Bears come to visit often. He hangs out with them, talks and interacts with them on a daily basis, sans hibernation times. Some say he’s insane, especially myself at first. I remember the end of Grizzly Man oh too well. Others say he’s a criminal, since it’s against state law to feed wild bears.
The amazing thing here is the filmmaker, Richard Terry. A spitting image of wild-eyed Colin Ferrell, this guy watched Grizzly Man before this assignment, and did it anyway. Terry’s footage and closeness of the bears to Charlie are amazing in their own right. His testament to the drama that transpired is even more brilliant. Here’s a great set of photos set to his commentary.
Maybe it was the HD shots, maybe it was the relationship between filmmaker and subject(s). This show was spellbinding, and at least no one died this time. But wow, what a story.
Tags: bear, documentary, grizzly, man
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May 4, 2009 at 11:00 am
Two part mini-series. I still hope that he was faking out the government with this. Charlie and camera man did the big set-up take on it to fake everyone into thinking he’s giving it up, but he’s still feeding the bears. That’s what I want to believe.
Lexie says, “Look! I’m a bear!”
June 15, 2009 at 7:11 am
[...] remote Alaska cabin and featured in the recent Animal Planet series “Stranger Among Bears. Stranger Among Bears = Win « The Litter Box by Johnny Cat Stranger Among Bears is a television documentary about Charlie Vandergaw, an older gentleman who [...]
June 15, 2009 at 8:27 am
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