Into the Wild (2007)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Into the Wild (2007) – S. Penn

Phony society, we reject your false values!  Or so said The Fleshtones.  Here, Christopher Johnson McCandless (a real person whose story was told first in a book by Jon Krakauer and then in this movie by Sean Penn) follows suit (with no reference to the ‘80s band, of course).  Perhaps the clearer link is to Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces (1970) which saw Jack Nicholson escaping his upper crust existence to work on oil rigs and date waitress Karen Black.  Except in Into the Wild, the rejection of the materialistic parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) is only part of the story and instead it is the rejection of the materialistic culture as a whole that is the focus.  McCandless, dubbing himself Alexander Supertramp (and played by Emile Hirsch), really did burn all his money and set off for Alaska to try self-sufficient living “off the grid” (a term not invented in 1990-92 when the events took place).  The film bounces back and forth between scenes of Chris/Alex at his “Magic Bus” abode alone in the North, living off plants and animals that he kills and the two-year journey across the US (and Mexico) that led him to that point.  He meets a number of other “fellow travellers”, mostly hippies living commune-style with others (Catherine Keener and Kristen Stewart included) but also blue collar rebel Vince Vaughn and elderly loner Hal Holbrook.  They all have their stories to tell that add a critical perspective to Chris’s choices.  Director Penn experiments with different cinematic techniques and styles (slo-mo, jump cuts, split-screen, superimposed text, etc.) in the different parts of the film which works well to hold interest (the whole thing runs 2 ½ hours) and Eddie Vedder’s raw folksongs infuse everything with a certain mood. Sometimes things feel truly ecstatic.  However, in the end, the film succeeds so well because it raises so many complex issues.  First, it encourages us to question the goals of our society and our own behaviors that contribute to its materialism (which is destroying the environment, hastening climate change, creating economic inequality, destroying souls by undermining human relationships, etc.).  Second, in contrast to the first, it asks whether complete rejection of society is the right choice or whether there could be other choices.  Third, it contemplates whether a crusading quest for a sense of meaning is a hallmark of youth and whether people become complacent as they age.  Fourth, it lets us think about the relationship between humans and “the wild” (and the on-location cinematography is often breath-taking) – are we exploiters, could we survive on our own without our “tribe”, are we social animals? McCandless’s provocative decisions (which are undoubtedly echoed by those joining the growing vegan movement and “occupying” various cities) are a very thought-provoking inspiration for a film that will certainly have you questioning your own existence.