Review of Wild (2014) by Iheardthatmovie — 07 Dec 2014

As you have most likely figured out on your own, there is no reset button for life. You just have to learn how to live life through all it's punches, keep an optimistic outlook, and remember that it will only get better from there. And always continue to chase that light at the end of the tunnel. For Cheryl Strayed, the light at the end of her tunnel just so happens to be a trail, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The Pacific Crest Trail is a hiking trail that spans 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada. With nothing but a backpack that looks like it weighs more than her, Cheryl Strayed finds herself hiking through the snow, heat, rain, and cold and at the end of the path was her light of self-discovery and self-repair.

With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. WILD powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.

Wild is based on the memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, and looking from the outside in, this is a very hard memoir to adapt for the screen. Majority of the memoir is centered on Strayed's internal examination of herself from meditation, moments of despair, and personal enlightenment. Having Reese Witherspoon be able to translate this internal examination onto the big screen is only half the feat as being able to write a script that gives Witherspoon the ability to do so is just as important, and screenwriter Nick Hornby throws Witherspoon the perfect alley-oop to slam the best performance of her career. Hornby does not focus only on following Strayed on this life-changing hike but getting to know who she really is, was and going to become after this hike. He uses flashbacks to get into Strayed's head meanwhile giving the audience the chance to experience her extremely tough life.

Witherspoon is truly amazing, in every sense of the word. Hard to believe when the first adjective I think of when I hear Witherspoon's name is perky, right? Witherspoon adapts Strayed onto the big screen faultlessly, delivering every aspect of Strayed that her journey commands for. The best part of Cheryl Strayed is that audiences can relate with her and this happens mostly because of the internal monologues Witherspoon has with herself. After all, there is very little dialogue throughout the film due to this being a hike Strayed took by herself. Witherspoon gives us a Strayed that is buried with dark emotional feelings but never stops believing and drops that feisty attitude of hers and with the use of the internal monologues, the audience gets to know exactly what she is thinking as she hurdles through countless obstacle courses.

This is what makes Wild so good besides the performance from Witherspoon. Vallée gives us a film that is not only extravagant, thanks to the scenery and cinematography that allows us to see some of the amazing views found on the PCT, but personal as well as the film was never about just the physical battle that is the hike but the emotional battle. With each monologue Witherspoon has with herself, she grows, she becomes stronger, more awake to who she is and we become closer to the woman on this hike.

Sometimes the journey towards the light at the end of the tunnel is a quick one but for Cheryl Strayed it lasted 1,100 miles and the result was self-discovery, self-repair and the best performance Witherspoon has given to date.