Into The Wild

Directors: Sean Penn
Release Date: 28 September 2007

 

Cast:
Chris McCandless: Emile Hirsch
Billie McCandless: Marcia Gay Harden
Walt McCandless: William Hurt
Carine McCandless / Additional Narrator: Jena Malone
Rainey : Brian H. Dierker
Jan Burres: Catherine Keener
Wayne Westerberg: Vince Vaughn
Tracy Tatro: Kristen Stewart
Kevin: Zach Galifianakis
Ron Franz: Hal Holbrook

 

This haunting film will stay with you long after you have seen it. The images, ideas, and ending are so beautiful and painful that you will find yourself often thinking back on emotional moments, flashes of dialogue or gorgeous scenery.

This film was written and directed by Sean Penn and is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless a suburban American boy who turned his back on the materialism that was surrounding him and tried to find truth and meaning in nature. McCandless is played by the superb Emile Hirsch (who later starred with Penn in Milk), the performance is deft and gentle. Hirsch brings the right amount of emotional distance to make the audience both want to know him better and at the same time feel the repulsion he has had with society.

His choice, to cut up his credit cards, give all his cash (over $20,000) to Oxfam and take off in a beaten up VW hits a chord with many people. He travels across the us, trying to get to Alaska; he has a feeling that in Alaska life is purer, closer to nature, and thus closer to the answers he’s seeking about his own life.

His adventure brings him into contact with many characters, hippies, farmers, the police, and others. His sense of who he is carries him through each of the encounters and though each try, in their own way, to keep him close he is always focused on Alaska.

The old saying: “be careful what you wish for, you might get it” is all too true in this case. Ultimately this movie is about a young man’s life lived fully, he did what he wanted , in the way he wanted, and put his ideals about life and nature to the test.

 

 

If you like this Movie, you'll also like:

1. Where the Wild Things Are
2. The Secret Life of Bees
3. A Bug’s Life
4. The Matrix