Description

Coleridge taught us that to enjoy fiction, we need to have a "willing suspension of disbelief". But "Into the Wild" is supposed to be a "true" story: it should hang together (within the liberties required to compress years of plot into a couple of hours). What we get instead is Krakauer and Sean Penn's romanticization of a life and a death that make no sense. The viewer, like the family member of an alcoholic, starts in denial. When Chris McCandless buys rice, a book on native plants a 22 rifle and cartridges, we don't realize that that was ALL he took with him on his trek to the coast (nomore… compass, no map, nothing to eat besides rice, no plan for what happens after he reaches the ocean). The author and director portray McCandless as a heroic youth (naive, perhaps, but heroic none the less).

However, about the time he settles down in an abandoned bus to starve to death because he realizes he cannot get back across the raging river I found myself asking questions like "How did the bus get there? Did it ford the raging river and climb the fifty foot bank, or did it perhaps come by the road? Why isn't this explorer following the bus tracks?" I left with the uncomfortable feeling that Chris McCandless was a pathetic figure, probably mentally ill, who ran off into the wilderness and died. My heart goes out to the McCandless family who have their loss portrayed for the masses but not before Penn has tarred their reputation and blamed them for Chris's problems (as nearly as I can tell from the internet accounts, the horrid parents are Penn's adaptation): as mental health professionals will tell you, mental illness is not the parent's fault.

Although the cinematography is great (the scenery is stunning) and much of the acting is first rate, my lasting impression of the movie is one of being in very poor taste. I feel like I owe the McCandless family an apology for having watched it.

Cast list

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Info:

Category:

Movies > Films

Case Type:

DVD

Release Type:

Retail

Language:

English

Region:

R1

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Into the Wild (2007) R1 Retail DVD

Part:

Front

Dimensions:

3195 x 2143 px

Size:

2,694 KB

Downloads:

276 (1 today)

Uploaded:

Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

23/09/08 by bdrstewart

Quality Rating:

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Rated 2 of 5 (1 votes). Click CDs to vote!