Into The Wild

Into the Wild is a story about Christopher McCandless who in 1990 gave up all his savings and began to travel the road, constantly on the move until he wound up in Alaska where he died in 1992. The film is based on the book by Jon Krakauer and directed by Sean Penn. I read the book some time ago but I remember one aspect was the question of McCandless' mental stability. Krakauer and now Penn seem to dismiss this as a possibility.

This is a film about actors and scenes. Emile Hirsch as McCandless gives a wonderful performance as a in many ways naive young man whose hunger for something greater is egged on by his appetite for the classic works of Jack London, Leo Tolstoy and Thoreau. Along his journey we are introduced to different episodes of his life. From the early scenes with his parents and their strained relationship to the meetings with fellow road travelers Jan (Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian Dierker) to his meeting with a wise old man Ron (Hal Holbrook), Hirsch carries us and keeps you interested with his longing and passion.

There is an underlying sadness in some of these meetings such as Jan's connection with Christopher because of her lost child and she tries to inform him that sometimes your parents choices are not always in their control. Keener is great as always and her interaction with Hirsch is some of the best in the film. Holbrook is another actor who deserves all the praise he is getting. Holbrook's Ron is almost the antithesis of McCandless. He is kept in place by duties and is not that adventurous but he does have experience with the world, something McCandless is lacking.

McCandless's end is not easy to watch and his final realization is exactly what Jan and Ron had been trying to tell him earlier in the film. I can't say its a perfect movie. There were some really annoying split screen cuts in the film and the all Eddie Vedder soundtrack just didn't work with what was going on. And never being a fan of voice over, the constant reciting of Carine (Jena Malone), McCandless's sister, as the story went got on my nerves, especially since for me this is Chris's story, not Carine's. Still it has an emotional force that keeps the film going and the actors's performances are all superb.