Into the Wild is the story of Chris McCandless, a 24 year old who has grown up in privilege and wealth but breaks from all that after graduating from University. McCandless donates his $24,000+ college fund to charity, burns his ID and cash and sets out on a journey that takes him all over the US, to Mexico and eventually to his ultimate goal, Alaska.
The debate around this story is between those who see McCandless as an intelligent visionary breaking away from what is wrong in the world and those who contend he was running from his life and drastically unprepared for the wild he longed to live in. Sean Penn wrote and directed this film version of the Jon Krakauer book and though they each paint a slightly different picture of McCandless what comes through is a version of the story that finds balance between the two extremes.
In the end what we're left with is a brilliant movie that left me thinking for days. The cinematography is breathtaking in Into the Wild as Penn gives a great feel for the surroundings of McCandless and an appreciation for the peace that nature seemed to give him. The performances in this movie really bring it all together, McCandless meets and befriends several people in his journeys and each character is played very well and brings cohesiveness to the story when only McCandless is the common thread between them all. Emile Hirsch plays McCandless and likely deserves most of the credit for finding chemistry with each and every actor he is alongside in Into the Wild.
This is a great story and a very good film. Whether the themes of Into the Wild inspire you, frustrate you or both you will come out of it having witnessed skilled storytelling, superb imagery and fantastic acting.
I put Into the Wild on my 'Watch It' list and give it a value of $9.
2 comments:
inspiring movie...loved it and made the mistake of recommending it to people who hated it.
Ha! I guess I could imagine someone not liking the story but the movie is so good.
Glad to hear you liked it.
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