Into the Wild (2007)

Dionysus

Dionysus

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Last night we watched one of the most interesting and moving films I have seen in a while, Into the Wild — IMDB, Netflix.

It’s based on a true story about a bright and restless young man, Christopher McCandless, just out of Emory University in 1990 who rejects traditional family and ‘societal’ expectations and chooses to go to Alaska and live in nature (parallels to Thoreau). The film covers his journey, the many interesting characters he meets along the way, and ultimately his struggles with the often harsh and unforgiving nature of life. Emile Hirsch is fantastic in the lead role, imo.

Some may see the story as a young man’s naïve idealism, and there could be some truth in that but I think many of us can also relate to his motivations and the spirit behind his quest.

If you watch be aware that it drags a bit early on, and may not seem like it is going anywhere. Be patient with it and I think you will be rewarded. Highly recommended.
 
Loved the movie. My brother introduced it to me when it came out, knowing that I am a big Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder fan, who wrote the soundtrack for the movie.

Supertramp to me is like a Labord Chameleon. He didn't need to live a long life to see or figure out life. Lived fast and died young, I like his style.
 
I'm not too sure how bright he was, unless he had a death wish. To go into the wilderness totally unprepared is irresponsible at best.

Sadly, I've read there was a store house with food in it one way and a rope-pulley that would have gotten him across the river the other way. Neither was very far from where he died, maybe a mile or two. Apparently he didn't explore his surroundings very well.

That said, it was a sad, compelling movie.
 
Well, it appears he was academically bright at least. It’s clear he was probably not as prepared as he could have been.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

Based on some other things I read about the story, he left a note while he was out looking for some food telling anyone who came by the bus that he was injured, weak and near death, asking them to stay and help him. If he wanted help he could have started a big fire and drawn the park fire dept to the site. Maybe he wasn’t thinking clearly at that point, who knows.
 
It was an excellent movie. McCandless, however, is not one to be romanticized. He only planned to be out there for 4 weeks or so at the most. When he tried to cross the Teklanika River back, it was higher and uncrossable. He thought he was trapped and tried to hunker down and wait it out. If he would have had a map and just went down another 400m down the river, he would have came across a hand tram to get him across.

He wasn't meditating on nature or trying to find himself. He starved to death cold, afraid, and alone begging for help because he was unprepared. He did not want this demise. This could be a perfect teaching point to outdoorsmen and adventurers about how to prepare and what not do. Instead, he's become every millennial urban fauxhemian's new mummblecore version of Holden Caulfield.
 
The book is much better.
He had maps, they were outdated and did not show the tow-across bridge. That being said, evidently many Alaskans are/were quite protective about outsiders coming in so they would purposely leave the seat on the wrong side of the river.

As far as setting a fire, Chris was extremely conscientious about his impact on the world, (for example giving away a large inheritance to Oxfam) According to family and friends, there would have been NO way he would have started a fire, endangered nature, firemen etc., for his decisions. He had a strong, if strange moral code--and setting a fire to be rescued was definitely not part of that code.

I don't think he was a hero, but he was extremely bright and had in fact done what he set out to do...exist in the wild on his own, bringing in only the most basic of supplies. He would have made it if not for the force of the melting ice flow.

He was just a rebellious loner kind of guy, who scoffed at material possessions and money, but according to all he met along his travels was a kind, charismatic fellow.

Read the book--an article first appeared in "Outside" magazine by Jon Krakaur and there was such a response he went on to write the book.
 
I admire his yearning to get away from it all and find himself, but his ignorance of the environment was his downfall. Like the Boy Scouts say, "be prepared".
 
I read the book when it first came out as a kid. I was really big into backpacking in Colorado every summer. Anyway I was pretty geeked up when the movie came out.
What's funny is the movie made me do a 180 on the kid. I sort of idolized what he did when I was younger, but for whatever reason, the movie really struck me that this kid deeply regretted what he had done.

He disliked that his parents had idolized wealth and status at the expense of their happiness, so he runs away in pursuit of true happiness - free from societal pressures.

Only at the end does he realize that he had made an idol out of this Thoreau-ascetic type of life, at the the expense of true happiness.

One of the inscriptions in his book read: "Happiness only real when shared."

He died alone.

Being rich doesn't buy happiness, but neither does being poor. You gotta figure that out on your own.
 
Good read. I liked that it didn't really romanticize his life. Kind of like how the Sopranos shows the dark, desperate, non glamorous side of mob life.

It is completely childish to think that the only response to his parent's flaws was a complete turn. Life isnt like that.

In reply to:
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An Arizona boy is now missing in southern Oregon and may be trying to imitate Christopher McCandless.

The Link

8/27/13
Unfortunately that kid was found dead. They suspect suicide.

The Link

The article also mentions another kid from Okla. who set out to test himself in the wilds of Oregon and is still missing.
 
I read the book in '95 or so. I never saw the movie but I remember thinking he was highly intelligent. Correct me if I'm wrong but he didn't starve to death from lack of food but rather had been inadvertently poisoning himself with a potato root or something that had such striking similarities to an edible plant that some botanists have a hard time telling the difference. As I recall experts were actually quite impressed by his knowledge considering he was an amateur. Maybe I'm off on all this??
Anyway, I have mixed feelings about him and can see why some would appreciate much of what he did and stood for and also understand those who think he may have been the naive idealist mentioned in the OP.
 
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