As I mentioned yesterday I rented a movie on Sunday and it was one I really enjoyed. The movie is called Into the Wild and it is the directorial debut of Sean Penn. The movie is based on a true story of an Emmery Student Athlete who leaves civilization, to "find" himself in the wild. Emille Hirsch (Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, Lords of Dogtown) plays Chris, who is disgusted with the life his parents live and the life they want him to lead. He destroys all records of his existence, donates all heads off on a journey to see everything beautiful this country has to offer. Throughout the movie you here Chris recite quotes of his favorite authors, that kind of explain why he feels he needs to do this. Along the way Chris encounters a bunch of different characters that mold his outlook on life.
I do not want to give any spoilers so i will leave the synopsis at that however there are a few things I want to dive into and I hope anyone that has already seen this movie will comment on this to help this discussion. There are some truly difficult scenes in this movie in which it is obvious to me that Chris feels like he is better than everyone else because he is living this way. Especially his parents, who are stricken ed with grief once Chris disappears. To me Penn tries to make this character that everyone will like, he is sweet, good looking, outgoing, and free spirited. However I found that I had an incredible dislike for this arrogant prick. There are a couple of examples that I will use to explain this.
First of all I want to say that some of the characters he meets are extremely good. The hippie couple played by Brian Derker and Catherine Keener, were really important to the story. They almost fill in as his parents to a certain degree, along with a another character he meets later in the film, played by Hal Holbrook, who I believe gave a performance worthy of Oscar considerations. Anyways one of the hippie characters asks Chris about his family, and you can see no regret in his heart for leaving his family. You can again later see this when he meets the old man played by Holbrook. The character played by Chris seems to be above any sort of loving relationships, and believes he is the higher moral authority in the world, and they only way he can find happiness is to submerge himself with nature. To me this is so fucking pretentious. The kid had a family that loved him, even if they didn't know how to show it. He met all these people along the way that seemingly loved him, or were touched by him, and yet all he can think about is getting to Alaska to be by himself. This is mentioned in a couple of spots in this film, I believe once when he is with Vince Vaugns character, he mentions that you don't need physical or emotional relationships to be happy in this world. Your experiences are what define the soul of a man. Mind you I am para phrasing something fierce. Although I understand what he is saying about experience, and how they are truly what you learn from and truly a way to learn about yourself, I actually felt sorry for this kid and his one dimensional thinking. Yeah you can experience the most beautiful things in the world, or the most fun things imaginable, but it doesn't mean shit if you have to experience them by yourself. At least that is my thought. I also want to touch on this moral high ground that this arrogant schmuck rested on.
At the beginning of the movie Penn introduces the Chris's parents to the audience. Right away Chris describes them as two people are not right for one another. He believes they never should of fell in love, and they never should have stayed together. What makes this fucking 21 year old kid an expert on love? He probably has never even had a fucking gf. I just hate how they portray this kid as someone with a higher wisdom. At one point the hippie character even asks him, "and who are you, Jesus?". That line really stuck with me, because it is obvious this kid believes that because he has experienced more he is wiser, and has more to offer the world. That may or not be the case, but I felt like he was sure smug about it.
With all the being said, I loved the movie. I thought Penn did a great job of flashing back and forth from past to present. At times I thought the movie moved slow, but I think that is because there is so much interaction with just one character and the landscape. That can get monotonous. Still the supporting characters is what made this movie special to me, and reminded me of another one of my favorites in Big Fish. It is a good story, and it is fascinating to watch this kid on his journey, although I thought he was a hard person to like, and know I wouldn't be friends with a guy like that. Still what he accomplishes is very extraordinary and he touched many people on the way. Definitely worth checking out.
4 comments:
I agree with your thoughts on the film in general. A quality effort by Penn, and IMO, great performances by virtually everyone from Emile Hirsch, to Catherine Keener, to Holbrook, to his family (mainly William Hurt).
A couple of thoughts on McCandless as a character and a person. I get your reaction to him, but I came away from the movie and the book really admiring some parts of his personality. No question he was arrogant and self-absorbed. That is what got him killed and I think that is one of the lessons of his story. He died due to some very basic mistakes and misunderstandings that would have been easily avoided if he had just been willing to let others have a walk-on role in his life.
In Chris' defense, he was young. More importantly, he was very angry. I would recommend you read the book. My sister will loan one to you, she teaches the book at school. There were more issues with his family than those that are covered in the film. I won't play spoiler on the book for you, but suffice it to say that Chris felt betrayed and deceived by his parents, for fairly good reason. Worse yet, he felt they were hypocrites and phonies. Being young, angry and idealistic, he wasn't willing to give an inch in way of forgiveness. Not uncommon for someone his age trying to form his own view of the world.
But, there is a strange beauty to his independence and arrogance that I found captivating. The movie kind of glosses over his earlier travels as nothing but a lead-in to the Alaska adventure. However, on that canoe trip down the river system and into Mexico, there was a stretch where he did not encounter another human being for more than 30 days. Seriously, take 5 minutes and think about that with some depth. Pure balls.
Many times during the book and during the movie, I was really envious of this punk. Wouldn't you love to be able to say that you took at least one adventure like that? That you really tested yourself and experienced something so fundamental as existing in nature, outside of the bullshit trappings of society? That you know exactly what it is to be on your own, self-reliant?
Aside from being bitter toward his own family, I thought he showed genuine appreciation for flawed humans, as long as they were honest about themselves and to themselves. He loved Wayne Westerberg (played by Vince Vaughn), and Wayne really did go to prison for selling illegal cable de-scramblers. He really appreciated Holbrook's character. They weren't perfect, but they were genuine - what you see is what you get. I think that is what Chris valued, while he found it intolerable for people to pretend to be what they are not - which is what he held against his parents.
The one thing I think your analysis is missing:
Chris was a work in progress who died before he reached maturity. He was only 22 when he set off on his journey, only 24 when he died. The saddest moment in the film is near the end, where he writes in the margin of his book:
"Happiness only real when shared."
I think he realized that he didn't have it all figured out when he set out on his trip. I think he had the growth experience he was hoping his adventure would bring, and it changed his whole outlook on life. He was humbled by the magnitude of his aloneness. Unfortunately, he never got to apply that lesson to the rest of his life.
Thank you TK, as always what you have added is much appreciated. I thought all of your points were spot on. I am going to get that book from your sis next time I see her.
One question I have for you. I agree that Chris did gravitate towards flawed people, or at least that is what Penn wanted it to look like. However do you feel like he did this just because they were able to admit they werent perfect and his parents could not do this? My favorite part of the movie is where the old man and the kid are talking and the old man talks about religion, and the idea of forgiveness. To me the brat kid showed really no redeeming qualities until this point and you kind of saw a transformation. I cant believe I didnt mention the "Happiness is only real when it is shared" I thought that was a pretty powerful message. Was that in the book? I agree 100% though with what you are saying, the kid does realize that he didnt have a grasp on what "alone" meant until those final days. They were very sad, however I guess I feel like this is where Penn may have failed a bit. This is one of the biggest themes of the movie, yet I dont think it is truly brought to light. Maybe I was just missing something in those ending scenes, but I never felt like the kid was ready to take what he learned and apply it to life. It was just like wake up one day, river is moving too fast, oh shit I am fucked. I thought the themes of this movie were great, and I could name a bunch of them. However I felt like even with all he learned it was kind of pointless, i guess that is another theme right there. Life is fucking short, dont be an arrogant asshole.
As for wishing I could be like that guy. No doubt he lived a dream life that is for sure, and he didnt need any money to do it. Just needed the balls to get out and hit the road. I loved the scenes with him working various jobs and picking up tips that could help him on his ways. The kid was resourceful as hell, no doubt about that. I guess I will say I admire him for a lot of things that he does, but not that the person that he is...
Overall I agree with your review, and did really enjoy this film. Whats really interesting is how many people have flocked out to the "bus" site and its really now a tourist attraction. Kind of sad that the ultimate location of solitude and beauty in this movie is now a frequent stop on hikers to do lists.
A little trivia: Not spoiling any of the movie, because it's known that Chris dies in the end. The berries that were believed to be poison that Chris ate are not actually what lead to his demise. They later found in an autopsy that the berries had sat for so long that they grew a mold, that ultimately lead to his death.
I've got a family friend, Willy, who works for the Denali foundation out in Alaska. He was able to help out crew during the on location filming & I've got a great picture of them both completely bombed at a bar. Don't know if I can post photos in the comments, but I'll send it to you guys anyway....
Willy is currently "into the wild" himself for work. Pretty cool site if you want to check it out. His wife updates it as she hears from him.....
http://wildernessofdenali100.blogspot.com
Yeah, Zach, the problem with Chris' bus becoming a tourist attraction is that Chris was never very far from the nearest town, and he was only a few minutes walk from a government-built cable crossing where he could have gotten across the river anytime he wanted. The bus itself was previously used as a shelter for the crew that had started building a friggin' road right there. When you're sleeping somewhere where people previously used heavy equipment to drag a bus shell to use as a camper, you're not exactly in uncharted territory. Then again, I think another theme of the movie is that perception is your reality. He perceived that he was cut off and isolated and could not cross the river until the freeze, so that became his reality that he never questioned.
I read that a lot of Alaskans despise the story because it glamourizes idiocy and it is a story about failing to respect nature or prepare properly - two cardinal sins up there. The kid never really made it out into what Alaskans would consider isolated, wild territory, and even that killed him. I guess they are concerned that other young idiots will be inspired to get themselves killed because this movie glamourizes it.
I also recommend the book, because the author (Krakauer) spends some time talking about other real people that have wandered off into various wild areas to live alone and talks about what is known about them, kind of looking for common themes regarding why people do this. Pretty interesting.
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