I was waiting to watch this movie from the time it was released but never got the opportunity. But yesterday my luck shined on me and I got a DVD rip copy of this movie. While watching the movie only two words came in my mind and those were “Beautiful and heart wrenching”. Penn captured the story of Chris McCandless with stunningly accurate cinematography and narrative, bringing to the screen McCandless’s ambition, struggle and humanity.
Plot: Into the Wild describes the life of Christopher McCandless(played by Emile Hirsch), an actual student-athlete at Emory University, real-life journey into oblivion. Penn uses narration from Chris’ beloved sister Carine(Jena Malone) to reveal why he cut himself off from his materialistic, manipulative, domineering and affluent Virginia parents Walt(William Hurt) and Billie(Marcia Gay Harden). In response to a, McCandless destroys all of his credit cards and identification documents, donates nearly his entire savings to Oxfam, and sets out on a cross country drive in his well-used but reliable economy car towards his ultimate goal: to live alone and off the land in Alaska(“Some people feel like they don’t deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past.”).
Along the way, he loses his automobile to a flash flood, inspiring him to hitchhike his way there after burning the remainder of his dwindling cash supply(“The core of mans’ spirit comes from new experiences.”). Dubbing himself Alexander Supertramp, Chris lets his wanderlust take him to a South Dakota farm run by Wayne Westerberg(Vince Vaughn), on a scary kayak trip down to Mexico, and to a trailer shared by "rubbertramps" Jan(Catherine Keener) and Rainey(Brian Dierker). An unconsummated romance with underage Tracy(Kristen Stewart) in Slab City, an RV camp in the California desert, also speaks to his character. Chris’ ache for connection is movingly portrayed in his relationship with widower Ron Franz(Hal Holbrook in his shining hour onscreen). He starts living in a "Magic Bus" serving as a shelter for people walking in the area(though in the film there is nobody else).
Resourceful, McCandless finds joy in living off the land, and begins to write a book of his adventures(“You don’t need human relationships to be happy, God has placed it all around us.”). Unfortunately, as the spring thaw arrives, he is cut off from civilization by waterways. As his food supply lessens(Hirsch lost forty pounds for the role), he resorts to eating plants. Although he consults a brought-along book about the edibility of plants, he confuses an edible and a poisonous kind, which turns out to be fatal. As he dies, he continues to write, detailing his painful demise as a dramatic denouement to his autobiography…On a page torn from Taras Bulba, Chris wrote an SOS: **"I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke."
The film follows the tidal prose of the novel in a way that is intoxicating, haunting and bittersweet. Hirsch captures McCandless’s eccentricity, charisma and torment, immortalizing the young man’s intriguing adventure. His dialogues will tell you bout his way of thinking as
“When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it.”
*“I read somewhere. how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong. but to feel strong.”
*Into the Wild is a human story of individual passion, perseverance, and pain that is more inspiring than tragic. Sean penn wrote and directed this amazing movie and I think he did PERFECT. this movie contains the best dialogue I have ever heard. Every word so powerful with such meaning. I could watch this movie 100 times and watch it 100 more times it’s that good it’s a must see. A MUST SEE for all believers in the power of the nomadic human spirit.
The last lines in the film were "What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now? " They seem powerful, but I’m not quite sure how to interpret them, what do you think?