[MOVIE] Into the Wild

[Paityr]

Just saw this today, and I must say that I absolutely loved it! Sean Penn does a fantastic job of capturing the mystery, self-centered adventure, and poetic vision of a young man searching for truth in life. It's an adaptation of John Krakauer's book of the same name, and tells the true story of a kid who graduates from college, cuts up his credit cards and drivers license, abandons his car in the desert, burns his money and goes in search of answers.

 

The imagery Penn captured is fantastic. The portrayal of Chris "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless is brilliant as an idealistic adventurer who touches, and changes, the lives of those he encounters, but whose self-centered focus on his quest for truth leaves these relationships empty. His story leads him to an abandoned bus in the middle of the Alaskan wild where he finally learns what happiness truly is.

 

They filmed this movie on location, in the places Chris actually visited. The bus in the film is the bus Chris lived in for 100+ days in 1992 (a bus my wife and I actually spent a weekend skiing out to visit after reading the book...it's a 27 mile cross-country ski trip just north of Denali National Park).

 

You know what I love most about Penn's movies? He lets the actors and the story take all the credit. I watched the end credits all the way through and didn't once see his name up there, despite being the director of the film. I love it.

 

Anyway, go see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

[Cadsuane]

I saw Ebert & Roeper review this and decided I wanted to go see it. I'll post my review if I actually make it to the theater.

[ironcross]

was it true to the book? i read it a few years ago and relly liked it but was kinda leary of the movie because i know how offten it is that movies ruin good books.

 

on a side note have you ever read the book "into a desert place"?  its kinda a simmilar story, would make an even better movie, about a british guy who has never even been camping decideing to back pack his way around baja california

[JenniferL]

I absolutely loved the book.  I was hesitant about a movie adaption though, because I think the writing is more compelling than the story. I just want to slap McCandless sometimes, you know?

[Emperor]

Ok... I will get to this movie over the weekend.

[Paityr]

Kat and Ironcross, I loved the book too, and was a bit hesitant to see it because of that. But Penn and Hirsch do an amazing job of capturing what I believe was the spirit of Alexander Supertramp, not just his visionary idealism, but his reckless naivity and self-centeredness, as well. And they use the actual locations whenever possible to help tell the story. The "Magic Bus" is the same one McCandless lived in at the end of the Stampede Trail (I recognized it instantly...but I wonder if they did anything about the smell inside of it). They show Emile carving on a plywood sheet inside the bus near the beginning of the movie, but the one they reference later on is the actual carving done by Chris.

 

And remember the self-portrait Chris took of himself in July, sitting next to the bus? There's a moment in the film that captures that exactly, down to the glimmer in his eyes.

 

Trust me, you both will love it.