Into the Wild

EMILE HIRSCH as Chris McCandless in "Into the Wild."

‘Into the Wild’ beautiful, thoughtful film
How often do you think during a movie?
I don’t mean thinking about will the boy get the girl, will the bank heist be successful, will the androids or the humans win.
I’m talking about thoughts on what are we doing with our lives, are material things so important, is the quest for money and power and glory worth the effort?
“Into the Wild” will get you to think about the decisions in your life.
The film is based on a true story, that of Chris McCandless.
He’s played remarkably by Emile Hirsch.
Chris and his sister, Carine, played by Jena Malone, grew up in a home with constant bickering and yelling between their parents, played by Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt.
The film opens with Chris’ college graduation and his proud parents. Sister doubles as narrator, too. A nice touch.
Sean Penn directs.
The McCandless family is well off. It appears the parents hope to make up for his turbulent childhood by buying him a new car.
Chris doesn’t want a new car. His beater vehicle is just fine.
The new graduate is really a throwback to the 60s. He rebels against the materialism of his parents.
Instead of getting a job and making gobs of money to make them proud, he vanishes.
Chris not only doesn’t want a new car, he abandons the beater. Talk about someone who opposes materialism, he burns his money. He walks off with a backpack that includes a tent and leaves the world he has known.
Meanwhile, his parents know nothing about his disappearance and decide to visit him at his apartment. Imagine their shock when they learn he’s been gone for months. Their letters had been returned and hoarded by daughter Carine.
The disappearance of their vagabond son has a profound effect on the parents. They stop their arguing. They become sullen. They become distraught.
Meanwhile, life isn’t bad for Chris McCandless.
He takes the occasional odd job, but mostly sleeps in his little tent at the beach, hangs with aging hippies and walks past the most beautiful scenery you ever want to experience.
Chris meets retired military man Ron Franz, played oh so beautifully by Hal Holbrook, who happens to be 83.
Ron befriends the boy. They talk about things that matter. Despite the age differences, they become friends.
Ron takes it upon himself to give the younger man some advice. He needs to find himself. He needs to buckle down and find a job.
But Chris is happy and Ron, who lost his son and daughter years ago in an accident, spends most of his time in his house and does leather work in his garage.
It is Chris who hands out advice. Ron must get out more. Meet more people. Experience life.
In one beautiful scene, Ron suggests when Chris returns from a planned trip to Alaska, perhaps Ron would adopt him as his grandson.
More gorgeous scenery in Alaska as Chris takes off to live by himself. He has a gun to shoot game and little else, finding an abandoned bus with a stove to live in.
There’s little dialog as the film flips between life in Alaska and his life heading to Alaska.
As I noted earlier, this film is based on a true story and his family cooperated in its production.
It’s a movie about people with values, ideas, some substance. This is rare in filmdom. Why wasn’t this at least nominated for best picture?
It’s the type of movie the Academy of Arts and Sciences loves to spotlight.
If “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” can win best picture, “Into the Wild” should at least be considered!
Holbrook was at least nominated for best supporting actor.
Sean Penn has truly matured when it comes to his work with film.
One sad note. This film was released in the HD-DVD format as well as standard DVD. With the demise of HD-DVD, the film wasn’t distributed too widely in that format. As beautiful as this picture looks, it should be readily available in some high-definition format.
Oh well, maybe some day we can see it in Blu-Ray.
Read other Viper reviews at videoviper.blogspot.com.

Into the Wild
• Directed by Sean Penn
• Runtime: 148 minutes
• Rated R for language an nudity
• 4 stars out of 4
This appeared in the Star Beacon Weekender April 18, 2008.