INTO
THE WILD
SUNDAY, 16TH NOVEMBER, 10.00 A.M.
TUESDAY, 18TH NOVEMBER, 8.30 P.M.
RUNNING TIME 148 MINUTES
RATED M
SYNOPSIS:
Freshly graduated from college with a promising future
ahead, 22 year-old Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) walks
out of his middle class life and into the wild in search of adventure
- and escape from the painful dysfunction of his parents (William
Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden). McCandless travels from the wheat fields
of South Dakota and takes a renegade trip down the Colorado River
to the non-conformists' refuge of Slab City, California, and
beyond. Along the way, he encounters colorful characters at the
edge of American society who shape his understanding of life
and whose lives he, in turn, changes. Like lifelong hippy couple
Jan (Catherine Keeler) and Rainey (Brian Dierker), and Ron (Hal
Holbrook) who teaches him that happiness is only valuable if
shared. In the end, he tests himself by heading alone into the
wilds of the great North of Alaska, where everything he has seen
and learned and felt come to a head in ways he could never expect.
Review by Louise Keller:
I don't need money; give me truth, says Emile Hirsch's Christopher
McCandless, as he sets out on his journey of self discovery.
The role of the rebellious adventurer intent on doing things
his own way is the kind of role Sean Penn might have taken on
himself twenty five years ago, but Penn makes his mark this time
as screenwriter and director. It's an extraordinary story, made
all the more affecting due to it being based on a true story,
as described in Jon Krakauer's book. A road movie, buddy movie,
coming of age story and portrait of a young man who finds the
secret of happiness, Into The Wild is liberating, thought provoking
and engaging.
From a handful of standard Hollywood roles such as The Girl Next
Door, Hirsch embraces this role of a lifetime and displays maturity,
charisma and a boyish charm as he goes from spoilt college kid
to emaciated naturalist. Armed with the self-anointed name of
Alex Supertramp and a grandiose plan to disappear from life's
radar and that of the expectations of his bickering, materialistic
parents (William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden), Chris trades his financially
comfortable life for one that offers him freedom. He simply runs
away. 'If you want something in life, reach out and grab it,'
he tells Kristen Stewart's free-spirited Tracy, one of the people
with whom he connects on his journey. He befriends Vince Vaughn's
wheat farmer in South Dakota and hitching on the freeway, he
meets long-haired hippies Rainey (Brian Dierker) and Jan (Catherine
Keener), with whom he forms a bond. To Jan, Chris is the son
she has lost, as he later becomes to Hal Holbrook's elderly widower
Ron Franz, which brings some of the film's most moving moments.
But life on the road is filled with challenges, some of them
full blown 'tragedies', according to the diary notes that Chris
makes.
Penn captures Chris' newly discovered joie de vivre as he sneaks
on freight trains, rides the rapids and enjoys his solitude in
his 'magic bus', his final destination in the wilds of Alaska,
where nature never relents. The voice-over reflections by both
Chris and his sister Carine (Jena Malone) add great poignancy,
while Eddie Vedder's songs inject melancholy and reflection.
Beautiful cinematography enhances the stunning locations in this
moving and heart-rending tale about a young man who ventures
into the wild to find his ultimate freedom.
Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless and his virtual
disappearance from society in the early 1990s, Sean Penn's adaptation
of the book has the benefits of a good story that touches us
all on many levels. Pity then that Sean Penn has done such a
bad job of orchestrating it that in the telling, the emotional
punch is always pulled by a time shift or a mood shift.
But Penn, with a great characterisation by Emile Hirsch, does
manage to show us a human being full of contradictions, complexes,
wisdom and foolishness. A poetic sort of chap, McCandless burns
with the pain of his parents long term dishonesty about their
past. His sister Carine (Jena Malone terrific in a small but
pivotal role) is the only human being to whom he can relate and
confide. But he doesn't even tell her where he's going when he
decides to step off his world, right after graduation.
We follow him - rather episodically, thanks to the film's structure
- as he explores the wild frontiers of America and meets those
living on both sides of the social border. Catherine Keener and
Brian Dierker feature as a wonderfully complex hippy couple who
give him a ride and meet up with him later. Hal Holbrook is terrific
as the old widow Ron, who learns from Chris and also teaches
him the importance of people.
These scenes are great, and Penn could have given his film real
zest if he had focused on the wilderness and the strangers. Too
much material feels like padding and stretches the story beyond
its natural screen form.
In the end, we are saddened by the young man's tragic journey,
which is motivated by a range of emotions with which we can readily
identify. That understanding gives the film weight, and his ultimate
fate is an irony that would have been even more powerful had
his story been told in a simple, linear narrative fashion.
Source: www.urbancinefile.com.au
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