DVD Release Date:  March 4, 2008
Theatrical Release Date:  September 21, 2007
Rating:  R (for language and some nudity)
Genre:  Drama
Run Time:  148 min.
Director:  Sean Penn
Actors:  Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook

Sean Penn is one of the most talented screenwriters and directors in Hollywood, and Into the Wild, which is based on the best-selling 1996 nonfiction book by Jon Krakauer, may be his best yet.  It’s long-winded and a bit rambling, and he romanticizes what most will consider a reckless, self-indulgent quest.  But it’s a very worthy film nonetheless.

High on the ideals of Tolstoy and Thoreau, athlete/scholar Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) graduated from Emory University in the early ’90s, donated his life savings ($24,000) to Oxfam, burned his remaining money and all his I.D. cards, abandoned his car and began trekking around the country.  For two years, he lived a nomadic life, befriending an older hippie couple (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker, in heartwarming performances), a grain farmer on the run from the law (Vince Vaughn—a stretch), and a teenage girl (Kristen Stewart) who falls hard and fast for the handsome young man consumed with wanderlust.  He eventually lands in the wilds of Alaska, his dream, where he survives for four months in an abandoned bus, eating animals and berries to stay alive.  He documented his journey in a diary.

The talented Hirsch portrays all the arrogance of McCandless’ quest with such happy-go-lucky naiveté and gentleness that you can’t help but warm to him.  He’s definitely a star on the rise.  As Alex’s well-meaning but incredibly wounded parents, William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden are astonishing.  Sean portrays them without much sympathy, but their performances—especially that of Hurt, in a final scene—outweigh the judgment we are inclined to feel.

There are many lessons to be gleaned from this tale—although most must be coaxed from the narrative, which Penn embellishes with little self-examination.  His message is that freedom is the ultimate prize of life.  All the civilization-bound characters in the film are dysfunctional and sad, whereas McCandless and everyone else he meets on the open road are happy, well-adjusted and at peace with themselves.  The paradox of this illusion, of course, is the tragic end. 

Other messages remain.  One is the beauty of God’s creation, which we so often forget.  Eric Gautier’s cinematography is positively stunning.  Even the most reluctant outdoorsman will be tempted to venture if not into the wild, at least into the woods.