Into the Wild

“Entering the wilderness purposefully ill-prepared, and surviving a near-death experience does not make you a better human, it makes you damn lucky." A non-verbatim “novel" adaptation of an excellent documentary book. You don’t often see that sort of thing. Even though it’s true that the situation was that much easier for Penn due to the fact that he scratched all the stories of the people that McCandless meets, and a lot of chapters about similar adventurers and his declared devotion to unfettered freedom. And he was still left with enough material to write a short novel, which would be far too much for the running time. So he rewrote it in his own way - very loosely. And it works excellently, although personally I am bothered about how he changed the character motivations (e.g. Ron Franz) and about the very idealized perspective on Chris’ actions. The movie version of Krakauer’s “Into the Wild" may stand proud next to its book parent and they beautifully, and rarely, supplement each other. Plus, Penn finds firm support in the camera, Eddie Vedder’s music and of course Hirsch’s performance. And all the above may be enjoyed whether or not you takes Chris as a new-age hero discarding all worldly goods (the only perspective offered by the movie), an irresponsible poser rich-kid who got what he deserved or simply “just" a regular humanly erring naive dreamer who bit off more than he could chew. But still, the book is simply better and, with its many layers of perspective (although it’s obvious which opinions the author himself holds dearer), more powerful. And, rather surprisingly, the movie has awoken in me a desire to set off into the wild. (03/04/2008)

An absolutely divine film in perhaps all possible and even impossible details. After all, how many times has anyone thought about their life and considered escaping into nature and living in a completely non-consumerist way, like in a preserve? This film is about a boy who gave it its fullest and opened the door for other people. Until then, Sean Penn was basically a great, but a bit strange actor for me. Now I have to say that he is also a genius filmmaker, because what he did with the actors cannot be described with words. I could feel the emotions from everyone, and the music really added a lot to that. Finally, after a long time, a film where the running time was not a problem for me, quite the opposite. I liked that even though the film could have been practically without dialogues, there is still something going on in it and there are still different people and different characters that the boy who ventured into nature meets. A film that evoked so many joyful, sad, positive, but also negative emotions in me like no other in a long time. (04/01/2013)

I wish it was freer and intellectually deeper. At times I felt that Penn actually says that living without anything in the wilderness like a homeless person is actually the best thing you can do, and that you will know what life is only if you do so, no matter the time, and that is something I cannot identify with. The emotions are fine, and there are quite a few of them, and it's interesting that the longer you look at it, the more you like the main character – or rather, it's entertaining to watch his mental development and transformation. It's a conscious film, I just would have preferred it to be in a slightly different direction – or maybe have the attributes rearranged differently, if you will. Dreamers and laid-back people will watch this over a beer and chuckle in delight. Pragmatists and realists would rather watch something like American Gangster, which is also a journey. (28/10/2014)

The audience gets closer to the protagonist by slowly uncovering his childhood in a dysfunctional family. At the beginning, they might feel cold towards him, especially for his overly radical outsider opinion and reluctance to accept anything from consumerist reality. As a viewer, however, I was able to overcome this coldness towards Chris and ended up with tears in my eyes. Into the Wild is a wise, psychologically complex film that boldly explores deep existential questions. Moreover, it is beautiful. And Sean Penn is a genius. I consider his feeling-based portrayal of Los Angeles to be the second best scene of the film (behind only the brilliantly edited ending). (29/04/2008)

I didn't expect such boredom. The transformation of the protagonist was impressive and the music that accompanied him on his journey was nice, but what did it matter when I didn't believe a single one of his deep thoughts, which sounded only like godforsaken phrases in my ears, and when I was already very unpleasantly bored after an hour. The strangest thing of all, however, is that I like melancholic films with a similarly slow pace and pensive atmosphere. This one certainly won't be one of them. (05/09/2015)