Grizzly Night
Established in northwestern Montana near the United States-Canadian border in 1910, covering over four thousand square kilometres and encompassing parts of the Rocky Mountain range, for over fifty years there were no recorded fatalities from animal attacks in Glacier National Park until the night of Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th of August 1967, when against the odds and any reasonable expectation two incidents occurred within nine kilometres of each other.
The distance involved and the timescale indicating that the attacks were unlikely to have been caused by a single animal, the coincidence was made even more strange by the fact that both unfortunate victims shared a similar profile, both nineteen-year-old women, Julie Helgeson from Minnesota and Michele Koons of California, one camping with friends near Granite Park Chalet and the other at Trout Lake.
The timeline and theorised possible causes of the attacks investigated by journalist Jack Olsen and published as a three-part article in Sports Illustrated before being gathered in book form in 1969 as Night of the Grizzlies, the events have now been dramatised by Bo Bean, Katrina Mathewson and Tanner Bean as Grizzly Night, the rugged scenery of Utah a stunning stand-in in for the less accessible sites of the real locations.
Starring Charles Esten as senior park ranger Gary Bunney, Lauren Call as Joan Devereaux, the ranger in charge of the hikers at the remote chalet, and Oded Fehr as Doctor John Lindberg, by happenstance on the tour with his wife, a nurse, when the attack occurred and able to render immediate assistance, unlike many “nature bites back” documentaries and dramas, director Burke Doeren has opted for a tone which is sober and respectful.
Helgeson and Koons played by Brec Bassinger and Ali Skovbye, neither their deaths nor the attempt to save Julie’s boyfriend Roy Ducat (Matt Lintz) are sensationalised, and although the actions of those responsible for operating the site and maintaining safety are questionable with hindsight, it was only after this incident that recommendations were made for the handling of food waste and interactions with wild animals as well as proper education of visitors and staff.
A tragedy for those involved and the animals who were culled in the immediate aftermath and in the longer term until protections were put in place, unconscionably deemed a threat when their only crime was to have their habitat taken from them and their natural behaviour disrupted, Grizzly Night is evenly paced, perhaps too intent that it be taken seriously and coming across as dull with little effort to give individuality to the campers, but still a welcome alternative to the hysteria that most often typifies such recreations.
Grizzly Night will be available on DVD and digital download from Monday 2nd February
