LET'S GET INTO THE WILD

I don't know why I picked this movie, but I picked it out of the other hundreds unknown movies I have in my hard drive. If I haven't followed the randomness of hands on my mouse, I wouldn't have watched this movie.

I don't think many would have heard of this movie "Into the Wild". I know I haven't.

For such a star-studded cast, I wonder why it is not a famous movie

It's based on a true story about this young adventurer, Christopher Chandless. He really dislike his parents. Again...family arguments, family problems. He is from a quite well-off family and thus, naturally, the parents cared more about their money that the welfare of their children. You know how some parents feel that being a good parent means to give all the luxurious things to them?

This dude is kinda cute hehe

Chris grew up to be someone who is great at writing and loves nature. So at 22, he set out from home (ran away) and embarked on his journey "Into the Wild". His destination? - Alaska Alaska, not City Alaska.

Chris left everything - he donated his savings of $24,000 to Oxfam. He left his promising life and future in search for an adventure.

He beliefs that happiness is not about the relationships with people, sometimes, happiness can be sought just by being with nature. Fair enough I guess.

The movie is directed by Sean Penn - excellent work for the excellent cinematic visuals. I mean, for a movie that is supposed to be about nature, the scenes about the nature has got to be breathtakingly beautiful.

The story is in a series of flashback (back and forth between the day he found his magic bus and his journey before he found his magic bus) - narrated by 2 people, Chris & Chris's sister. The script of the narration is beautiful. The author has brilliantly put into words the feelings of these two characters. Deep but at the same time, grasping the essence of what the two characters are trying to say. Chris talks about his adventures while Chris's sister narrates about Chris as a person.

"Into the Wild" highlights the whole journey of Chris - the different people he met that all I belief, had in some ways taught him something about life or at least, had an influence on him to a certain extent.

For example, Jan & her partner, Rainey. I belief this couple thought Chris to see things from his parents' perspective. Jan told Chris about how her son, disapproving her relationship with Rainey, ran away from home without letting her know. Now, she doesn't even know where her son is. For Chris, yes, his parents were at fault for the failure of being good parents, but in some ways he is also wrong for not letting his parents know his whereabouts.

Jan & Rainey

Sometimes, if only we see things from a different perspective

Chris's sister narrated that Chris's disappearance has brought her parents together - they don't fight anymore but they become 'new' people - people that she herself doesn't know. To her, she feels that her parents now do not deserve the treatment that Chris is giving them. But she says that she understand that this is not the set of parents that Chris had grew up with. They were indeed really bad parents throughout Chris childhood and thus, Chris has a reason to really hate them. But now, Chris's sister just felt that they have changed for the better.

The most touching part of the story is when Chris meet an old man. I always have a soft heart for old people and when they cry, it just breaks my heart.

The man who wanted to adopt Chris
The man who taught Chris above forgiving "When you forgive, you love"

Chris finally made it to Alaska. He trained for it and he learned how to hunt and everything. He survived on birds and small animals and plants. He was enjoying life at first but reality soon sinks in. He was getting slimmer by the day and is getting not enough nutrient.

He became weaker and weaker that when he decides to leave Alaska, he can't even make it across the river. Sometimes, with not even nutrient, your brains can't function and think properly; plus you also don't have the physical energy. The ending part shows how Chris began to starve and he ate the wrong type of plant, poisoning himself. The end sees him hallucinating about going home, about hugging his parents. Finally, he realized that happiness is shared ...I guess in my interpretation, it just mean that you won't be happy alone. Very true. I mean we need our time alone but at the end of the day, it is about sharing with it others, it is about being with others. I agree~

I guess part of me wants to live like him, though I don't plan to die like him. I mean, I think it is pretty cool to go around and just embrace nature and meet different people. But I'm a person who loves people. I can't stand living alone. I just enjoy the part where he gets to hang out with so many different people and learn so many things.

It is really not a bad movie at all, though it moves a bit slow. But there are good values to be learned from the movie. There are beautiful scenery, stunning visuals and a beautiful script.

The real Chris McCandless with his magic bus

TC-My Ratings:




ps: while searching for pictures on this movie, I found out that this movie was actually nominated for 2 Oscars. OMG! I really need to update my knowledge on movies.