Thursday, October 18, 2007
It is one thing to quote Thoreau in a graduation speech, but another to live by his words. That is what Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) does in Into the Wild, actor and occasional writer-director Sean Penn’s paean to youthful rebellion.
Based on the non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer, the film shows McCandless’ journey from his cushioned life in a D.C. suburb to a self-sustained existence in Alaska, following other like-minded writers and propelled by his own disdain towards materialism. After graduating from Emory University, Christopher donates his $24,000 of life savings to charity, burns all forms of identification, and adopts a new name: Alexander Supertramp.
Into the Wild does more than just show Supertramp’s two-year odyssey across America. The filmmakers attempt to account for his motives through narration from his sister, his letters and journals, and unnerving home-movies of his parents. It is this search for reason that creates some of the film’s best moments and elevates it from the road-movie conventions it could have easily succumbed to, to a film of extreme sensitivity and incisiveness.
The journey itself is filled with scenes that are hilarious, sweet, terrifying, and beautiful. Of course he meets a variety of people, becoming a part of a pseudo-family with a hippie couple, the surrogate son of an old man afraid to live life, and working for a blue-collar horndog as a grain harvester.
The film, though, suffers from too many stylistic flourishes and a slightly disorganized narrative. For a film about space the liberal use of split screens constricts the frame. These things, perhaps nit-picky, keep Into the Wild from being the flat-out masterpiece it could have been. Nevertheless it is a great film with many moments that stay with you long after it is over.
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into the wild
Hey folks! I just added Into the Wild tees onto my page - Also there are other current Alaskan events like corrupt politicians, gold digging strippers and crabbers with crabs. Come on over to see them at: www.cafepress.com/echoforsberg>-
- Posted by echoforsberg on October 21, 2007 at 12:26 a.m.
- permalink
- suggest removal
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