Into the Wild

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Into the Wild I'd like to start by saying that I am in no way, shape or form an outdoors person. I enjoy the necessities that my pay checks allow me to afford (couch, television, remote) and I feel no reason to go slumming, sorry…camping, in order to become one with nature. I enjoy rivers and lakes as much as anyone, but I prefer to float in them (preferably with an ice cold beer) as opposed to canoeing in them for miles. One of the necessities that I enjoy is film. Many people consider it a luxury, but for me it is a necessity. As ignorant as I may sound by writing the following words, I am not a huge fan of reading. I mean, I read, but it's usually yellow words at the bottom of a movie screen. So now that I've established I'm an indoor person, I didn't think that I would be able to relate to or enjoy Sean Penn's masterpiece Into the Wild. Into the Wild is the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who graduated college at the top of his class only to trade society's ideal life of a 9 to 5 job for a life that would take him on adventures that most only read about in books (except me, I don't read). After giving his entire life savings away to charity, McCandless leaves his parents and sister behind as he hitchhikes to Alaska to live off of the land. Along the way, he receives a real life education from all of the characters he comes into contact with. His adventures have him working at Burger King (although he burns all of his identification so I'm not really sure how they hired him legally), working for a shady, lovable character played by non other than Vince Vaughn, cavorting with hippies, becoming the object of affection for young Tracy played by Kristen Stewart (Hollywood I'll give you a minute to go get a pen and write her name down….) and most importantly forming a beautiful friendship with old widower Ron Franz. Hal Holbrook will bring you to tears as Franz, a role that I'm sure Peter O'Toole would have loved, but he has that whole English accent thing going on. Sean Penn takes McCandless' childhood, his cross country journey, his struggle for survival once he reaches Alaska and beautifully weaves all of these encounters together without any regard for a timeline. The end result is a gorgeous, thinking man's movie that entertains and stimulates. We actually feel every emotion that McCandless is going through. When he and his sister (played by Jena Malone, who at 23 years old is a 16 year veteran in Hollywood that has yet to be given her dues) endure their parents drunken, emotional and physical arguments we feel their pain. When McCandless is helpless in the wilderness, we feel how destitute, hungry and lonely he is. Sean Penn captures both Surburbia and the wilderness all the while getting some of the year's best performances out of his actors. He truly is an actor's director. However, with that being said, why in the name of Jeff Spicoli would Sean Penn find it necessary for Emile Hirsch to mug for the camera while eating an apple? He looks right at the camera, smiles and then takes a bite as if to say "Just in case you forgot, you're watching a movie." Very unnecessary and distracting. Without taking anything away from the rest of the cast because it is strong across the board, this film could easily see three Oscar nods for acting: Emile Hirsch (Best Actor), Katherine Keener (Best Supporting Actress) and Hal Holbrook (Best Supporting Actor) all should hear their names called in January when nominations are announced. Emile Hirsch embodies McCandless in a manner I haven't seen on film in some time. His physical transformation was impressive, but is not something that hasn't been done before by his peers. See Christian Bale in The Machinist. His mental and emotional transformations, however, are what the little gold statues were made for. This weekend I suggest getting your butt off of your mountain bike and placing it in a seat inside a dark movie theater that is showing Into the Wild. You won't regret it.