INSTEP Magzine

Sean Penn's Into the Wild is the coming of age, true story of a young man Christopher McCandless with very little of the stereotypes that have pervaded coming of age tales and biopics being churned out by Hollywood regularly. Though opinions on the movie will be essentially divided, depending on whether the viewer agrees or disagrees with its protagonist's philosophy, but one thing is fairly certain: director Penn has managed to do justice to a tale in which there are no black and white characters or situations.

Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) a fresh college graduate, turns down his life of luxury, shedding his worldly goods, donating his college fund to charity and burning all other possessions and even adopting the name Alexander Supertramp to pursue a non material path of contemplation in the wilderness. His journey takes him across beautiful rugged mountains, golden wheatfields and in stark contrast the cloying repugnance of an LA shelter, to eventually the wilds of Alaska. For Chris the journey is more spiritual than physical, a chance to test what he is made of and a way to uncover the truth of who he really is, inspired in large part by the writings of Thoreau, Byron and London. His eventual realization that happiness is only real when shared and that there's no running from the self (as evidenced in his relinquishing the name Alexander Supertramp) is heartbreaking and will touch a chord with all viewers, no matter what their personal worldview.

Other than chronicling his travels, and the people he encounters, the movie also explores his motivation behind such radical undertakings. With a voice over from Chris' sister, the viewer is given a glimpse of Chris' strained relationship with his parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) who fought bitterly and forever tainted his life with lies and deceit. So much so that he became convinced that one doesn't need relationships to experience life to the fullest and thwarts all attempts by the people he meets on the road, to reach out to him emotionally. However blaming the parents entirely for Chris' worldview would have been simplistic and very formulaic and the movie mercifully steers clear of that, which in fact is the movie's main strength.

The script makes no bones about the fact that for all his idealism and romance, Chris can be at times a stubborn and selfish individual. His need to indulge in extreme nature and to throw away material possessions away may be inspirational to some, but we are also shown the emotional toll it takes on the beleaguered parents and sister who are not granted so much as a phone call. And yet it is to the film's credit that it does not gloss over the protagonist's flaws but paints him in a very realistic and human light. Among its other accomplishments the film is a remarkable balancing act steering clear of trite sermonizing and judgments.

One could question some decisions taken by the director to visually translate Chris' extreme decisions and views onscreen. This includes structuring the film so that there are three simultaneous narratives running through it. Moreover Chris' journey has been divided into various chapters like "Birth", "Manhood" etc. Agreed the technique encapsulates the spiritual aspects of the journey, but this realization should have been left to the viewer's intelligence. Moreover the scenes where Christopher befriends an old war veteran (Hal Halbrook) get excessively mushy which does not gel well with the overall tone of the movie.
The movie is greatly shot with some really exquisite landscapes showing America at its most raw with mountains, deserts, railroads and other shots made all the more memorable due to Eddie Vedder's original score. While supplementing scenes with soulful words and melodies, the score also makes the length of the movie tolerable. Even then one wishes that the movie had been edited by a good 20 minutes for an even more powerful impact and repeat viewing quality.

Emile Hirsch carries the movie with his standout performance and uncanny resemblance to the real Christopher McCandless (as evidenced by a self portrait of McCandless shown at the end) The supporting characters including Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughan, William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden are great, particularly the latter two in the roles of Christopher's parents.

For all its cinematic brilliance, it is hard to divorce audience's response to the movie from their perception of Christopher McCandle's. It is for this reason the movie would elicit mixed responses from the audience. Some may judge Christopher McCandle as cruel for causing the deepest sorrow to his loved ones or as naïve inflicting senseless misery upon himself. Others may not agree with his politics but might sympathize with him. Still others would relate to the journey on some level and then there are those who celebrate him as a rebellious anti-hero who lived and died for his beliefs.

However, from purely a movie lovers perspective, Into the Wild is a powerful drama with magical moments of quite revelation that aptly convey the wonder of nature and the limits some will go to discover it. It is as fitting a directorial debut for Sean Penn as Taare Zameen Par is for Aamir Khan.
-- Mariam Khurram

*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME