Review of Wild (2014) by Dawdlingpoet — 25 Nov 2021

This is an adventure drama film based on a biographical memoir. I felt the viewer wasn't given much in the way of context to explain why Cheryl embarked on her journey - what has brought her to where she is and so on.

As the plot develops, we discover more about her background, her past, key memories and experiences and I felt she came across as a relatively flawed character, a free spirit type but also she was someone who could be looked up at, in terms of doing what she did - not so much before but at the main time the film takes place, she is shown to be a doggedly determined person, a fairly strong willed one at that.

I liked that she didn't come across, visually and otherwise, as a vulnerable, fragile woman. At times she could be thought of as somewhat of a role model to adolescent women, for her lack of vanity and determination, although its also true that she's made some mistakes in the past (which I won't go in to). The film features narration in the form of Cheryl's voice narrating what was thought to be going through her head at times - this was somewhat haunting in tone at times and I felt it did well to allow the viewer to imagine what it must have been like for her at the time. Both the camerawork and narration was quite good at highlighting how isolated and nervous Cheryl was while she was on the long hike. The camerawork is somewhat jerky but I felt that worked quite well as it sort of highlighted her tiredness and also her necessity to check her surroundings. I like that she seems partly at ease with her enforced isolation at times, due to being in the big rural 'out there'.

Cast wise, Reece Witherspoon plays the main character, Cheryl. I thought she did particularly well at playing Cheryl - she very much had the look of the strong willed Cheryl, as I've already said and she seemed to give a very realistic, authentic performance, being someone easy to admire in some respects and also to worry for in others. I could feel myself rooting for her when she challenges some peoples presumptions about her. Other cast members include Laura Dern who plays Bobbi, Thomas Sadoski who plays Paul and Keene McRae who plays Leif, while W. Earl Brown plays Frank. Some of the music played was quite well chosen, so I felt, at adding to the general 'wanderlust' type atmosphere or tone of the film. The music I noticed was mainly grunge or sometimes folk type songs. Content wise, this film contains some bloody injuries, that of injuries suffered while on the trail and which may make some people feel queasy or faint, violence, strong language, multiple sex references and sex scenes, plus drug references and fairly graphic scenes of drug taking/ingesting. The film features some mature themes, about preservation and dealing with upsetting personal setbacks and so it carries a 15 rating to reflect all of this.

Overall, I felt this was quite a genuine, authentic feeling film. Its quite poignant and thought provoking and features a good performance from Reece Witherspoon - there's little I can think of to criticise it, other than that I found the start a bit lacking in context or other basic information but then the film does slowly reveal her background as the plot develops.

I'd say its a relatively under stated film - its not one of the few films that has massively moved me or that I regard as particularly amazing but, as I say, its a good film, one thats well made and that is somewhat haunting and memorable in its own way, so I'd say its worth a watch.