Directed by:
Sean PennScreenplay:
Sean PennCinematography:
Eric GautierComposer:
Michael BrookCast:
Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Brian H. Dierker, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Drama based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who left his middle class existence to live in the Alaskan wilderness. Giving up his home, family, and all possessions bar the few he carries on his back, McCandless (Emile Hirsch) embarks on a journey through America. His ultimate goal is to reach the wilds of Alaska, to spend time with untamed nature, away from the obligations and relationships of the modern world. In the months leading up to his 'Great Alaskan Adventure' his travels take him on a journey of self-discovery, where he learns to appreciate the world around him and to reflect on his troubled upbringing. When he reaches Alaska he finds he is ill prepared for the hardships to come. After making it through a tough winter he prepares to return home in spring, only to find the stream he crossed in the snow has become an impassable raging torrent and that he is trapped. (Paramount Pictures AU)
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Reviews (10)
I understand that this story about a young guy embarking on his dream adventure (without thinking about the effect that will have on his family and the people he meets along the way) can have a strong impact and even inspire some people, but it didn’t affect me at all. Into the Wild is not the type of film that can captivate me immediately (or that could emotionally exhaust me), and whether it will leave me with something else, time will tell. Emile Hirsch handles de role well, but I couldn’t relate to the character due to his very nature, which prevented me from experiencing the film to the fullest. The strongest part for me wasn’t the ending, it was the cameo of Hal Holbrook, whom I found more sincere and believable than Chris’s pilgrimage. The songs that can be heard throughout the film are very fitting and generate a specific atmosphere. Edit: So, I thought about it overnight and I have to add the fourth star.
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I wish it was freer and intellectually deeper. At times I felt that Penn actually says that living without anything in the wilderness like a homeless person is actually the best thing you can do, and that you will know what life is only if you do so, no matter the time, and that is something I cannot identify with. The emotions are fine, and there are quite a few of them, and it's interesting that the longer you look at it, the more you like the main character – or rather, it's entertaining to watch his mental development and transformation. It's a conscious film, I just would have preferred it to be in a slightly different direction – or maybe have the attributes rearranged differently, if you will. Dreamers and laid-back people will watch this over a beer and chuckle in delight. Pragmatists and realists would rather watch something like American Gangster, which is also a journey.
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I didn't expect such boredom. The transformation of the protagonist was impressive and the music that accompanied him on his journey was nice, but what did it matter when I didn't believe a single one of his deep thoughts, which sounded only like godforsaken phrases in my ears, and when I was already very unpleasantly bored after an hour. The strangest thing of all, however, is that I like melancholic films with a similarly slow pace and pensive atmosphere. This one certainly won't be one of them.
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The audience gets closer to the protagonist by slowly uncovering his childhood in a dysfunctional family. At the beginning, they might feel cold towards him, especially for his overly radical outsider opinion and reluctance to accept anything from consumerist reality. As a viewer, however, I was able to overcome this coldness towards Chris and ended up with tears in my eyes. Into the Wild is a wise, psychologically complex film that boldly explores deep existential questions. Moreover, it is beautiful. And Sean Penn is a genius. I consider his feeling-based portrayal of Los Angeles to be the second best scene of the film (behind only the brilliantly edited ending).
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“Entering the wilderness purposefully ill-prepared, and surviving a near-death experience does not make you a better human, it makes you damn lucky." A non-verbatim “novel" adaptation of an excellent documentary book. You don’t often see that sort of thing. Even though it’s true that the situation was that much easier for Penn due to the fact that he scratched all the stories of the people that McCandless meets, and a lot of chapters about similar adventurers and his declared devotion to unfettered freedom. And he was still left with enough material to write a short novel, which would be far too much for the running time. So he rewrote it in his own way - very loosely. And it works excellently, although personally I am bothered about how he changed the character motivations (e.g. Ron Franz) and about the very idealized perspective on Chris’ actions. The movie version of Krakauer’s “Into the Wild" may stand proud next to its book parent and they beautifully, and rarely, supplement each other. Plus, Penn finds firm support in the camera, Eddie Vedder’s music and of course Hirsch’s performance. And all the above may be enjoyed whether or not you takes Chris as a new-age hero discarding all worldly goods (the only perspective offered by the movie), an irresponsible poser rich-kid who got what he deserved or simply “just" a regular humanly erring naive dreamer who bit off more than he could chew. But still, the book is simply better and, with its many layers of perspective (although it’s obvious which opinions the author himself holds dearer), more powerful. And, rather surprisingly, the movie has awoken in me a desire to set off into the wild.
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