We went to see Into the Wild last weekend… I haven’t written about it before because it’s still buzzin’ around in my mind.
It’s a warm, funny and ultimately tragic tale of a young man trying to understand life and himself, made far more poignant by the fact that it’s a true story.
Written and directed by Sean Penn, it stars Emile Hirsch (Jesse James Hollywood in Alpha Dog) as Christopher McCandless, recently graduated and looking to escape the claustrophobia of the life mapped out for him by his parents and society in general. Shedding his very existence by burning his identity papers, he calls himself Alexander Supertramp and disappears from the grid. Throughout the story, the way that he touches the other characters is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching and his diary gives a depth of insight into the soul of this young man that is hard to ignore afterwards. The soulful soundtrack by Eddie Vedders beautifully frames both his mind and the landscape.
Go and see this film and be prepared to be moved. Five stars!