I’ve read Jon Krakauer’s book INTO THE WILD months ago, excellent book, a heart-wrenching true story of an adventurous soul, and this movie version has done justice. Director Sean Penn is… a person who’s always been known as the guy in the front line to defend environment and human rights and I think his making this movie is kind of like his way of sending the same message he’s been rallying for all this time.
Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) feels that his parents have betrayed him for hiding the truth and living a lie and so he’s off to an Alaskan Adventure that would take him a couple of years and several encounters with some new friends. His experiences and detachment from civilization brings him to the freedom he’s longed for all his life but in the end it dawns on him that happiness is real only when shared.
Watching the film INTO THE WILD at times it feels like watching an epic episode of The Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Sean Penn once said that Alaska is like “nature on steroid”… no kiddin’!
Emile Hirsch is a rising talent, a force to be reckon with, his portrayal of Chris McCandles shows similarities that are uncanny. His presence on the screen is almost as captivating as the nature view on the background, which I think is the main star of this movie. Emile Hirsch, by the way, can be seen next in 2008’s summer blockbuster film SPEED RACER, way cool!
I’m amazed how loyal the screenplay is to the book. Sean Penn chose the best parts and put them on the big screen. What really makes this movie beautiful is the silence between the dialogue, the breathtaking images and the occasional funny punch lines make the movie’s length in time frame seems like nothing.
I don’t know if I could do what the real Chris McCandless did,… he was either a courageous role-model or a mentally ill idealist.
One thing for sure, not many based on book movies are as good as the book themselves, this one is and The Da Vinci Code filmmakers should learn a thing or two from Sean Penn.
* Place the cursor on the picture below to check my rating for this film
