Review of Wild (2014) by James O — 18 Mar 2015
Wild, Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and starring Reese Witherspoon. I really enjoyed what this movie wanted to be, but it fell short for me. Reese Witherspoon portrays Cheryl Strayed, a woman tormented by her past, who takes to the Pacific Crest Trail, as a sort of therapy.
The director starts us with Cheryl on the trail and uses events on the trail to flashback to past events. It is an effective technique but wasn't implemented very well. I left the theater a little confused by the timeline of past events.
Also, Cheryl was dealing with an addiction problem. When was that resolved? On the trail? How often do heroin addicts use a 1000+ mile hike to get clean and sober? Which then again, she was never sober, drinking several times on the trail.
Maybe I'm nitpicking. What's a drink or two after getting off heroin? Overall, I enjoyed the film. It made me curious about the PCT and other hikers stories. I'm in awe by the determination to walk from California to Washington and the movie inspired me to find my own trail.
The best of luck to Cheryl Strayed.
This review of Wild (2014) was written by James O on 18 Mar 2015.
Wild has generally received positive reviews.
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