Into the wild

It was a movie that was ten years in the making; Director Sean Penn first encountering the story of Christopher McCandless in the 90's. Into The Wild is a mildly fictionalised account of a true story about a young man's rite of passage through America, finally heading for Alaska.

Christopher (Emile Hirsch) is a very talented young man, passing all his college exams with flying colours, events of the world around him (both home and away) suddenly and seemingly from nowhere takes Christopher off on an adventure. His journey begins with the disposal of his car, and the burning of his last remaining dollars; his life savings already donated to charity. The next part the forming of a new identity Christopher Candless died the day he turned his back on society and Alexander Supertramp was born. Into The Wild takes Alexander on a trip of America, he sees the good things in life, he sees the bad things; but what he does along the way is touch the hearts of everyone he meets.

I'm a little challenged by my thoughts on Into The Wild, visually its one of the most beautiful looking movies I have seen since Casino Royale, but rather like Casino Royale I was left a little less impressed with the movie than the average movie reviewer.

Into The Wild is one of those movies where my interest drifts in and out, one minute I'm fixated by the story, the next I'm wishing for a conclusion so I can get on to the next film. Any passing movie viewer may also be challenged by this movie, if only because they have lost the understanding of where the movie is. The film is told from four standpoints: The past when Christopher and his Sister were young, The near past in which Christopher reflects on his journey, The near past where his sister reflects on the story, and how her and her family feel about the disappearance of Christopher, the final strand is I guess the present, or as near to it as you can get with Alexander (formally Christopher) living in what is described as "The Magic Bus" in Alaska. The fault with these points is that except from the past aspect, it's quite difficult to understand where in the story things are, none of the divides are clear. I think a much more fluid storyline would have achieved this movie greater appreciation, although I accept that it was pretty well received by most who saw it.

 The story itself is an incredibly important one, ever had that feeling of wanting to abandon your existing life and living one closer to nature? Well this is certainly one of those movies that show you some places that you can fall foul early. It's the areas of bad times that appealed to me more so than the good, though I can't deny being touched by the relationships that Alexander makes on his travels. I'm haunted by images of Alexander desperately trying to get food in the Alaskan wilds, in particular his efforts with a moose, this is storytelling so good it could bring you to tears.

The relationships of the movie are poignant ones; Alexander makes himself a new family with a pair of Rubber Tramps (a term given to travellers by vehicle), Jan and Rainey played by Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker respectively have nothing, yet for the nothing they have it seems that the world is theirs. Vince Vaughan plays Wildman Wayne Westerberg, an individual filled with wild and crazy ideas. And then there is the lovely looking Tracy played by Kirsten Stewart, who finds love for the first time in her life with Alexander, this too has tearfully moving aspects to it.

I'm not convinced however as to the touching nature of Christopher/Alexander, I have had a great many encounters in my life but few I feel have really touched me, call me harsh I know! I find it difficult to believe that this one young man had such an effect on people that ultimately their lives were changed because of it; I feel quite safely I can point this stories aspect as being fiction, whether it is from the "Hollywood" perspective, or from the writing of the real life Christopher McCandless. Now I have no mean to disrespect the McCandless family in that statement, but there are aspects of this story that we will never be able to truly verify.

I was thrilled by an arrival three quarters of the way through the movie and this came in the form of Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz, and actor who I had assumed to be dead, his arrival proves to be the most touching of all the relationships that our young lead makes, and allows him a better chance than he would have, had the encounter not taken place, and it proves that Holbrook for a man nearly 100 years of age can still act every bit as well as he did 50 years prior.



Into The Wild starts as an epic journey, it's breath-taking to look out and will charm you to your very soul. But Into The Wild will not leave you with any happy thoughts, this is a terribly tragic tale, that regardless of its journey and the legitimacy of story aspects will leave you rendered speechless, and at best teary eyed.
Despite the fact that there were aspects of the movie that I was nearly driven to stop viewing, Into The Wild left me sobbing like a baby, I would go as far as to say uncontrollably so; thank God I saw this at home, alone rather than at a cinema.