INTO THE WILD

“rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness… give me truth.” – Henry David Thoreau



I bought new dvds recently and came across a final copy (that’s how they call it) of Into The Wild, a movie directed and written for film by Sean Penn and based on a book by Jon Krakauer recounting the life of a young idealist, Christopher McCandless. I have been anticipating to watch the movie due to the great raves I have read and the nominations it garnered when I watched the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure if it had reaped trophies but there’s something about the movie that attracted me. At first I thought it was some kiddie adventure to Alaska to see the moose and the polar bears in the wilderness. It turned out it was a movie that pierces deep into your being. I thought Gone Baby Gone is the best movie I’ve watched so far this year. After 6 grueling hours watching the Senate hearing circus, I gave up and got my dvd player workin’ out the best movie I’ve seen so far this year – hands down!

The movie stars Emile Hirsch as the self-proclaimed ‘aesthetic voyager’, Christopher McCandless. Fresh from college, McCandless donated all his savings from his college fund, gave up his Harvard break of becoming a lawyer and left everything – even his family- for a journey to search for complete joy. The movie is way much more than a great Alaskan adventure. It was a story of self-realization, of a life changing voyage to the wilderness for a greater purpose of ‘killing the false being within’. McCandless adopted the name Alexander Supertramp as he went on his way to Alaska, hitching on travelers and tramps like him and working occasionally on a few jobs to support his effort to get to Alaska. The people he met, the conversations were so profound they have a different tug on my chest. Though the movie ended tragically as McCandless suffered starvation in the wilderness for having eaten a poisonous weed that inhibits ingestion, it left a very strong message – “Happiness is only real when shared”.



We view things in different light. Some may think he was a disrespectful young man who packed his bags and left his parents without a word until the next time they saw of him was his dead body in an abandoned bus in the wilderness of Alaska. True but there was something that I learned from his story. McCandless was no saint. I may not be able to do in my entire lifetime what he did, but it became clear to me that there are lot more important things than the things we hold so dear and cling to so tightly; that we need to experience loneliness in solitude to know the meaning of happiness; that joy isn’t found in human relationships alone but in all the things that God has surrounded us; that more than anything truth is what matters; that when we forgive, we start to love; that the pain of loss can be a healer of deep wounds of scarred hearts that have been silent to long; that in ultimate freedom we learn what we are capable of doing; that it’s important not only to be strong but to feel strong; that the wonders of nature is just outside our window waiting for us to discover and that life is still beautiful as I has always been!

The film was well-crafted. Emile Hirsch was perfect with his unforced portrayal of McCandless. The movie was also backed with a strong ensemble of actors – Vince Vaughn, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener and Kristen Stewart who by the way sang and wrote a song featured in the movie. Stewart was just simply beautiful even though she had very small but important role. The last time I saw her was with Meg Ryan in the movie In The Land of Women. Also the soundtrack is just perfect for the melancholic feel of the movie – the lyrics and the guitar driven songs of Eddie Vedder (whom i just learned is the lead singer of Pearl Jam) edges on nostalgia that continues to hum on my ears even after the movie has ended. (Gotta download ‘em on my Ipod real quick)

I wasn’t able to sleep tight after watching the movie, tsk tsk tsk. I had to put on Tori Amos to die down the film’s soundtrack from playing in my head and had to cover my eyes with my pillow to keep me from staring at the ceiling where Emile Hirsch was scribbling notes of words by Tolstoy, Thoreau and London. ( Don’t get me wrong, I might have had a hard time putting myself to sleep but yes, I definitely slept.) Its one of the few movies that bothered me a lot. Maybe because it stroke a chord within. The movie is a gem and I probably wouldn’t be able to see a movie that will have the same effect on me for quite along time as Into The Wild did. The movie served as a reminder of a lost soul that from time to time goes astray (that would be me I guess..tsk tsk).

Now I’m really thinking I’m Alexander Supertramp. Daggumit, anyone there going to Alaska with me?

********here's a New York Time's review of Into The Wild, one of the reviews I've read of the movie. Also, i just learned the song Guaranteed by Eddie Vedder won Song of the Year at the Golden Globes. I wasn't surprised.. :)