Movie Review: Into the Wild
Summary: A young man with a difficult upbringing sheds the life his parents want for him, opting instead to travel the country on foot in a journey that takes him into the Alaskan wilderness. Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless as documented in the bestselling book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.
Review: Although McCandless’ story has been well-documented, I don’t want to say much about it here, just in case you aren’t already familiar with it. Going into this movie, I knew McCandless’ story and Diana didn’t. And while we both enjoyed the movie very much, it was clear that it affected Diana much more for not knowing the story ahead of time. Out of respect for that, I’ll skip the details in the hopes that your viewing experience is optimal.
Suffice to say that it’s beautifully shot and emotionally moving film. Great work from Sean Penn as director, the soundtrack from Eddie Vedder fits perfectly and is used well throughout, and Emile Hirsch carries the movie almost singlehandedly as McCandless. Not that the supporting roles weren’t quality - they were. But Hirsch stands out.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Recommended reading: These contain spoilers. Christopher McCandless on Wikipedia, The Cult of Chris McCandless by Matt Power (Men’s Journal)
McCandless’s story is tragic, but then so many people have benefited from hearing it… a couple of years of hitchhiking led to his story challenging thousands (millions?) of people to reexamine their lives
May 1st, 2008 at 11:25 am