Into the Wild

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Screening Suggestions

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Here we have an interesting 2007 film for those of you who are adventure-seekers. Written and directed by Sean Penn, the story is based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name, written itself by Jon Krakauer.

As far as the story itself, it's a biographical depiction of the two years Christoper McCandless (Emile Hirsch) spent traveling. Headed northbound to Alaska, Chris changes his identity to "Alexander Supertramp", and meets several interesting people along his journey. His reasoning is simply to get away from everything society calls "living", and to get back to the nitty gritty of a life consisting of himself, nature, and nothing much more.

Meanwhile, his parents, Walt and Billie (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) struggle through the pressures of having a missing son. This is along with his sister, Carine (Jena Malone), who co-narrates (along with Chris) and has always expected Chris to do something like this some day.

Some of the additional cast includes the likes of Catherine Keener and Brian H. Dierker as a couple of hippies; Vince Vaughn as the runner of a harvesting company; Kristen Stewart as an unsure of herself teenage folk singer; and Hal Holbrook as a lovable and caring old man, more than willing to help Chris out.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this one's for those real adventure-seekers. It's a great film either way, but it will speak to survivalists and the like a bit more. I don't know for certain, but it seems like some of the survival techniques this guy attempts seem more realistic than most movies would attempt. It seems quite grounded in the story that it's based on.

That said, there's also something here for the artsy, as it IS a bit of an artsy film. This Chris guy wasn't just an adventurous type, he was also well-educated and really quite poetic by the looks of it. Throughout the film, he paints a great picture with his words about the wilderness, survival, the fear that comes with it, and just his emotions. So be fairly warned that it is a deep and poetic film. But there is something about it that pulls you in.

This title came to mind after checking out 'A Walk in the Woods'. The thought process basically being that I wanted to share with you what I assume to be a truly wonderful man-embracing-nature film. Indeed, perhaps my favorite of it's kind.

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