A victim of excess in wealth and a shortage of love, Christopher McCandless hid inside his mind behind knowledge and philosophy, building up his intellectual strength, as well as the physical, in order to complete his trek, ultimately leading him to Alaska. This film is a wonderful glimpse into the life of a kid, wise beyond his years, and the bonds that he creates with people along the way. Sean Penn's new movie Into the Wild arrives on the wave of a well-regarded novel about a college graduate who decides that the anger and violence in civilized society is too much to handle and commences a journey through nature in order to truly live life as it was meant to be. Either way, it's a a fascinating story and a beautiful film. You read more in the book about how he hurt a lot of people with his silence. I thought the film was pretty kind to him. I don't remember them in the book but I'll never forget this in this film!! One could debate the pros and cons of Chris McCandless for hours, so no sense going into that here. Knowing the book, the only part of the film that caught be off-guard was the young Swedish couple. Brian Dierker and Catherine Keener also were really, really interesting as the aging hippie couple, "Rainey" and "Jan." I kept thinking, I know this guy when listening to Dierker's voice, finally guessing it was Jeff Bridges underneath all the beard.but it Dierker, a guy who rarely acts in films. Meanwhile, teenager Stewart was captivating as "Tracy Tatro," who had a crush on "Alex." This young woman is on her way to stardom. He had some of the most memorable scenes in the story. He was about 82 when he made this film and hadn't acted in a film in a few years. It was really great to see the veteran Holbrook ("Ron France") again. Two people who fascinated me the most in here were two extremes, age-wise - Hal Holbrook and Kristen Stewart. The problem was that he was unprepared and underestimated what he was up against. He is very credible as the young guy who wants nothing to do with materialistic society and dreams of living in the wilds of Alaska. "Alexander Supertramp" reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio with his looks, build and voice inflection. I can't stand Penn as a person but fair-is-fair and I think he's great as a director, having seen his work in "The Pledge" and "The Crossing Guard." The main actor, Emile Hirsch, who plays "Chris McCandless" (a.k.a. Sean Penn directed and Eddie Gautier was the Director Of Photography. Man, this is a beautifully filmed and, at 142 minutes, there are a lot of great scenes to admire. One of the reasons is the fantastic cinematography. Yet, that's how I felt after watching this film. For a movie to be even better than a good book is no small feat.
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