Into The Wild - B

In theaters. Rated R, 140 minutes.

The angst of upper middle class kids with every advantage is often annoying, but no less affecting than real 'angst.' Into The Wild is about one such kid, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), whose rebellion and angst cost him his life. The film starts out with his college graduation and follows him on his trip from Virginia to Alaska.

Sean Penn wrote and directed this film, which features a non-linear storyline with episodes from his journey intermixed with his 100 days in the Alaskan wild. Chris rejects his promising future and the careermindedness, materialism and hypocrisy of his parent's lives, and delves deep into Thoreau and Jack London for inspiration and a guidepost for his life. His is the classic male adolescent journey to independence, but instead of a phase, he carries it out to a tragic extreme.


The film is narrated by Chris' sister, who provides perspective and a connection to the real world during his travels. The best parts of the film are the scenes Hirsch shares with Catherine Keener (a traveling hippy with a missing son of her own), Vince Vaugh (a charismatic farmer in South Dakota), and especially Hal Holbrook (a lonely old man). These episodes offer up Chris chances to look himself in the mirror and realize the impact of his journey on others, but he chooses to ignore them by wrapping himself up in his smiley angst. Holbrook's scenes are the best, and they could have been expanded into a movie by themselves. The soundtrack, by Eddie Vedder, is excellent and it captures the mood and tone of the film perfectly.

Overall, the film is well directed, but the screenplay is weak (except for the sequences mentioned above) and the overall affect of the storyline cuts is a jumbled movie. The shots of Alaska and the wilderness are beautiful, but it doesn't take a talented director or cinematographer to make Alaska pretty. Hirsch's performance didn't impress me, and his character lacked depth. The portrayal of McCandless is somewhat messianic and positive, but I was sympathetic to his parents and everyone else that doesn't need to go on a self-indulgent trip to Alaska to exorcise the demons of a less than perfect childhood.

Pretty good, but not great. Roger Ebert called this movie spellbinding....he was wrong.