Into the Wild

Into the Wild is Sean Penn's best effort as a director (he also wrote the screenplay based on Jon Krakauer's book). I really liked this film and it works well despite its longish running time (I was never bored).

This is the true story of Christopher McCandless. After Christopher (Emile Hirsch) graduates college he gives away all of his money and disappears for a life on the road. He doesn't tell his parents - Billie (Marcia Gay Harden) and Walt (William Hurt) - or even his sister Carine (Jena Malone) what he is up to. He just wants to get away from anything that reminds him of the materialistic world that he has come to hate.

At some point Christopher (who has renamed himself as Alexander) decides that his goal is to reach Alaska. Along the way he meets many characters such as Wayne (Vince Vaughn), a hippie couple Rainey (Brian Dierker) & Jan (Catherine Keener) a young girl named Tracy (Kristen Stewart) who takes a fancy to him and a wise old man named Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). Each one of these people has something to teach Christopher and he, in turn, has something to give them.

There is no point in telling you what happens at the end. We all know that he doesn't make it. But journey was quite exhilarating. As mentioned before, Penn does a good job of directing this film. Hirsch is very good and makes a very likable Christopher. Holbrook is wonderful in his small (but very moving) role. And Hurt, Gay Harden, Vaughn, Keener, Dierker and all the others are also up to snuff. Eric Gautier's cinematography is spectacular and I understand that Penn shot some of the footage himself. On the music front Eddie Vedder contributed some beautiful songs to the score.

There is a very graphic scene of animal brutality in the film. The animal in question was not killed for the film but it was already dead to begin with. The scene looks very real. As a devout vegetarian I closed my eyes during this scene. But I was relieved to find out that the animal didn't die for the film.

Now the question remains - was Christopher a brave soul in search of himself and a more meaningful way of life? Or was he just a self centered brat who didn't care how he hurt other people? Well, I think that he was a bit of both. While I greatly admire anyone who gives up some material comforts for the betterment of the world - in fact I think that we all have to get away from this consumerist mentality and I could relate to much of his philosophy - I think that Chris went too far with what he wanted to achieve. And although his parents were far from perfect I think that he was being too hard on them. And what about his sister who he was so close to? Why did he cut her off.

I recommend this film to those of you who want to see a complex portrait of a young man who is both brave and selfish at the same time. Also, I cannot say enough about the beautiful scenes of nature and her creatures in all their glory. We get a sense of just how connected we are to every other living being (not only humans) on the planet.

Oh, and yes, I came out of the film feeling very sad and that is how it should be.