Review of Into the Wild (2007) by Jack L — 27 Dec 2012

Into the Wild.

Feeling detached from everything "worldly" is a transitory feeling utterly unavoidable in everyone's life. As a normal human being everybody wants to avoid this grid lock and not run away from it in the fear of being stamped a "coward". But in reality, it takes more than guts of steel to truly renounce everything and break the rudimentary shackles of earthly human fabric. This is the very basic principle of philosophy that is no longer considered to be a coveted property of ascetics. It's an open world out there ready to be explored by it's annals - First directorial step is all one needs!

Plot:

Vexed with his family, their expectations and everything going on around him Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) departs from his regular line of life in to the "outer" world. He succeeds in erasing everything about his past life - literally and mentally - and is set to reach Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. The story is a non-linear narrative about Christopher's journey to Alaska, his experiences en route, final deliverance and the most important aspect of "realization".

Analysis:

The film is progressively based on two things - Breaking free and realization. As a kid Christopher is okay with certain level of imperfection but demands usual love and affection from his family (no holds barred). His interpretation of life around him creates the thought of "breaking free" and pushes it to the edges as it keeps growing like tumor. Chris sees life and experiences it his way with no slime of a concern about his family or his people. The protagonist's notion of being happy and cheerful with nobody around sets in to motion right away.

But all is not well in soliloquy - there has to be a point when everything waters down to basic elements of life again. This is the "realization" point of the film - where Chris has been enough of a deserter and wants to go back to "his" people. The film poetically stresses on the need for sharing grief or happiness and the importance of it in every walk of life. Fit this frame in to real life and the boy who did this in actuality is a hero (atleast in my world).

Performances:

Emile Hirsch is the character - his re-enactment of Christopher McCandless is surreal. The character has to be less emotional almost through out the film and is then supposed to break the emotional wall towards the end and Emile just cake walked through it. All the remaining characters are accessories in Emile's journey for happiness, experience and realization.

Sean Penn does a wonderful job of translating the non-fiction work to the big screen and does a commendable overall job with the film.

Best scenes:

1. Hero's poetically elegant life in remote Alaskan bus (boring to everybody).

2. Flash flood scene in Arizona.

3. Harvesting work in South Dakota.

4. Kayaking scene and escaping park rangers.

5. Chris's final encounter with an old man and.

6. Final hours in an abandoned bus laced with a flurry of emotions.

The plot, if you fully experience it, is a saga of a journey and not truly a story. Ironically, on the other hand, it is a true story.