PROJECT GRIZZLY review!!!

[horrorview]

Project: Grizzly (1996)
Director: Peter Lynch
Cast: Troy Hurtubise

There’s this great documentary out there called American Movie. It’s about a filmmaker named Mark Borchardt who is trying to get his “horror opus” Coven made at any cost. The film is absolutely side-splitting, but also a bit touching as we see Borchardt isn’t exactly...well...all that bright, nor is he all that talented, but what he lacks in brains and skill he more than makes up for in desire to see his film brought to life. American Movie turned Borchardt into something of a minor cult-hero, and it’s director, Chris Smith, gave us one of the most moving, funny, and honest films of the last decade. That is the power of the documentary film, especially when done right. A skilled documentary filmmaker can take an average man and make his life seem as big and exciting as that of any action movie hero, or as tragic as the most effective Hollywood drama.

But what happens when your subject is more than average? How do you document the life of a man who is not only a local legend, but already seems to live his own life as though it were a movie? If you’re director Peter Lynch, and your subject is the marvelously eccentric Troy Hurtubise, then you’ve got a chunk of pure documentary gold.

Project: Grizzly chronicles the adventures of Canadian scrapyard owner Troy Hurtubise, as he constructs a grizzly-proof suit with which he hopes to use in close-quarter encounters with the enormous, killer bears. Troy claims to have come face to face with a grizzly while on a hunting trip in the Canadian Rockies, and miraculously survived the encounter only to find himself obsessed with finding out just why it was he was spared. With over $100,000 dollars of his own money, Troy begins construction on a series of suits that he hopes will help him get close enough to a grizzly bear to monitor its behavior, and, perhaps, lead to the answers he seeks. With the help of his friends (who shower him with the praise and support any good apostle would their messiah), Troy tests his suit’s fortitude by throwing himself off of steep cliffs, getting hit by speeding vehicles, and having four hundred pound logs suspended by ropes dropped on him. Once satisfied, Troy takes the trek back to where his encounter took place in hopes of encountering “The Old Man” who spared his life years before.

Project: Grizzly is a truly remarkable piece of documentary filmmaking. It’s at once hilarious and sad, as one kind of gets the feeling that all’s not well in the mind of Troy Hurtubise. Here is a man who gestures emphatically at the camera like someone who was born to perform, often posing like an action hero on a movie poster, and alternating between muscle flexing and karate movements. We see him meditating on a hillside in his underwear, holding a sword while standing in a museum of armored suits, and walking through fire to demonstrate the inner and outer strength granted to him through "ancestral Indian blood" and a life dedicated to some unnamed form of martial arts. Yet, conversely, we see him chain-smoke, drink copious amounts of coffee and beer, and feast on junk food, showing that his spiritual side is there so long as it suits him and provides dramatic impact. Troy is also a man who seems to thrive on telling stories, surrounding himself with “yes men”, and making risk a central part of his existence. While I’m not sure if I believe Troy Hurtubise ever encountered a grizzly bear, I am sure that he believes it, and that’s enough to make Project: Grizzly a rousing success.

Director Lynch documents the action as unobtrusively as possible, but one can’t help but think that Hurtubise directed quite a bit of the action himself. We see Troy stalking a black bear around the local dump, dressed in fringed Native American attire, with two huge knives and a red beret. He spouts off all manner of “scientific” facts about bears that any regular viewer of the Discovery channel would know are not only completely fabricated, but, quite often, the opposite of the truth. In any event, Troy seems to stage scenes in such a way as to make himself look like a backwoods Jacques Cousteau, but, instead, comes off looking like a complete madman. Even his suit, the culmination of tens of thousands of dollars and years of research (as well as the subject of a Simpsons parody), looks ridiculously ineffective. There’s a moment where a suited Troy lumbers past a drive-in showing a scene from Robo-Cop, once again comparing himself to not only a heroic character, but a heroic character from a motion picture. This is obviously a man who has molded his own character from an amalgam of Hollywood action stereotypes, and is taking the opportunity of finally being captured on film for everything it is worth.

This cult-classic documentary comes to DVD courtesy of Microfilms’ Document Collection, and features a commentary by director Lynch, a hilarious “critical appreciation” commentary by critics Richard Crouse and Geoff Pevere, and some deleted scenes with optional commentary by Lynch.

This is a movie about a man who’s pretty much a legend in his own mind, and I think that, once you see the film for yourself, you’ll get the picture. Still, it’s impossible not to like Hurtubise as he is an engaging and exciting personality, and Lynch does a great job of just letting this guy tell the story he wants to tell us without swaying the viewer in one direction or the other. The film has a somewhat open ending, and I guarantee that when you see the final credits role, you’ll be begging for the further adventures of Troy Hurtubise.

Movie A
Extras B