Oscar Cleanup: "Into the Wild" Review written by Spaldy

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Hal Holbrook

Written & Directed by Sean Penn

Movie: 4

Film: 4

I tried something a little different for this review. I wrote this in the car immediately after the film when it was still raw and emotional for me. In the light of day, I see that it reads more like a comparison paper for high school English, but overall, I still agree with its sentiment. It has been almost a month since I wrote this, but I still feel the same way when I think about the film.

****Major spoilers in this review

Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) feels as if he is fragmented from the world and the people in it. Desperate to find his true happiness, he destroys all that has defined him in the past and sets out to find that which defines who he truly is. Chris first meets a hippy couple riding a rough patch in their relationship. Her aching heartache over the disappearance of her own sun into the world radiates off her. Chris acts as a surrogate son to bridge that gap between silent suffering and healing. When she opens herself to her partner Rainey, it is with the strength her surrogate son has given her.

Chris next moves onto South Dakota to experience life with Wayne (Vince Vaughn). Here he acts as a surrogate conscience and as a confidante. Wayne is who Chris would like to be. He clearly admires Wayne. For a brief time Chris experiences the surrogacy of safety and friendship.

At this point, Chris is again restless. He seeks the surrogacy of nature. The love and freedom he has only experienced in books. He yearns for it. So he sets out on the rapids, riding the water as long as he can. After an intense dust storm at the end of the river blows away his kayak, Chris accepts that his surrogate is sending him back to the urban world. However Chris’ brief foray into Los Angeles shuts him down as the city closes in around him. The audience can feel the claustrophobia of it. The sense that he doesn’t belong is palpable.

So Chris sets off again, this time meeting up with Ray (Hal Holbrook). Here he becomes a surrogate child once again. Once more he brings love into the life of someone but refuses to take any of that love back into his own life. Ray reaches out to Chris, trying to ground him but Chris needs to seek his own surrogacy once again from nature. This time it is Alaska. Chris feels the love he seeks can only be found and received from Alaska.

At first Chris makes out all right in Alaska. He lives in a converted bus, killing small prey and subsisting on rice. It is in this harsh and beautiful land that Chris finds the peace that has always been missing. He finds the love and freedom he has been craving and he becomes trapped by it. When he reaches this peace, he sets out to return to civilization only to find that this last surrogacy cannot be broken. Unlike Ray, Rainey, or Wayne, Mother Nature does not let go so easily.

With the river impassable, Chris must settle in and wait for the swelling river to shrink. With food scarce, Chris attempts to forage for food. However the hungry are not always as sharp and careful as they should be. It is Chris’ carelessness that does him in.

It is only when Chris realizes that nature brings as much freedom and confinements as all other trips in life that Chris can make his final peace with life. But when he finally understands that love and happiness are things that must be shared to be fully experienced, that is when Chris’ loneliness begins to undo him. By then it is too late to live but in a way, he has finally healed.

Chris, or at least Emile’s portrayal of Chris, reminds me so much of my brother. There is an effortless charm and likeability to Emile. His smile is disarming and comforting. There is a trust and peacefulness in his demeanor. That is how I think of my brother and I found Chris’ loneliness at the end almost unbearable because of these similarities. It was as if that was my brother on the screen. If my brother had been interested in Alaska, perhaps he would have been on a similar path. There was so much of my brother in Chris that I have never felt more alone or separated from my family as I did during the closing credits of this film.

Sean Penn has crafted a beautiful film. There are layers upon layers of moments and thoughtfulness. I doubt any two audience members experience the same movie. In a way it was personal to each viewer. I imagine most people were introspective during the viewing of this movie; even if none of the viewers were lucky enough to love someone like Chris. I am lucky. I grew up with a soul like that. And I miss my brother terribly right now.

I feel like I moved to Los Angeles for many of the same reasons that Chris set off for Alaska. I needed to find a peace within myself. I needed to seek out what felt right, even if it didn’t feel safe or familiar. I needed to strip away all that I was and find out what I truly am. Perhaps this movie was simply too personal for me to give an honest opinion on. But even if you never experienced what Chris felt, watching this film is an exhilarating experience. The direction moves swiftly and never bores. The writing is solid with moments of quiet elegance and others filled with gentle statements that feel neither too hokey nor too sage. From start to finish you feel like you are on this journey with Chris. And no audience member can ask for a better experience that that.