Into the Wild
Christopher McCandless was angry and peaceful and clueless and wise. He rejected the B.S. that governs so many of our lives, but he was full of crap himself. “Into the Wild” celebrates McCandless’s contradictions. Director Sean Penn, who adapted Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book, brings the hero to life through his interactions with those closest to him: his sister, a middle-aged hippie couple, a ne’er-do-well grain dealer and an elderly widower. Hal Holbrook as the old guy, and Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as the hippies, do vibrant and delicate work. McCandless, played by Emile Hirsch, sometimes comes off like the most annoying know-it-all 22-year-old you’ll ever meet: Asked about his family, he quotes Thoreau. But he radiates empathy, and people open up to him because he demands nothing from them. McCandless wanted to commune not with his fellow man but with nature – and “Into the Wild” makes you understand early on how that impulse will be his undoing. When he plunges a kayak into the raging Colorado River, it’s not exhilarating – it’s scary and foolhardy. Yet the movie shares his love for the vast American landscape. Penn shot in eight states as well as Mexico, and his restless camera conveys his hero’s bravado and sense of wonder. The freedom of the open road has never looked so exhilarating. But at some point everyone has to stop running. McCandless finds idyllic pit stops on his trek to the Alaskan wilderness, but he always says goodbye, and “Into the Wild” aches with regret every time. It’s a fantastic movie.
LISTEN: Into the Wild