Into the Wild, written and directed by Sean Penn, based on book by Jon Krakauer - 9 out of 10

Into the Wild, written and directed by Sean Penn, based on book by Jon Krakauer
9 out of 10


Into the Wild is a highly acclaimed motion picture, nominated for two Academy Awards and other prestigious prizes and very popular with the audiences who have included this film among the best ever made.

I guess there are a few ways to look at this feature, two of which are most tempting.

First, one could see what is going on early in the plot, consider that this is going to take long, at 148 minutes and wonder if it is all worth it:

Is this guy crazy,  or what?

Christopher McCandless has saved $ 24,000.68 to enter a top university, Harvard is accessible for him, only to blow it all away!
His parents are willing to put up the balance and want to buy him a new car.

He says he does not need it and embarks on an adventure that would take him to Alaska and get him in so many dangers that we could think that in Afghanistan he would have been really safe in comparison, even in the middle of the land of the most. Vicious taliban clans.

There is no reason to do that.
Or is there?

For the other perspective is the better, accurate one.
Yes, he refuses material benefits, the car, wealth, the so called good life.

Positive psychology studies have demonstrated how relative is the value of money in connection to happiness.
We experience a phenomenon called Hedonic Adaptation and get used with possessions, cars, gadgets...

It is better to spend money on experiences, travel...which is what the hero does.
Without spending anything.

The last few dollars he has he burns and the old Datsun is abandoned.
He lives in the wild, shooting game, travels with "rubber tramps".

In other words, if usual people are bored very often, become hard pressed to find significant experiences in the platitude of the ordinary world, this guy lives to the full or like the French say:

Vivre a fond

So there is much to learn from this incredible adventure, the message is deep, the film is thought provoking.
It is easy to dismiss the wild man as I was tempted in the first instance.
But his energy, passion, drive, stamina, courage, madness, resilience are otherworldly.

There are a lot of annoying traits about this hero, who becomes to grand for my taste in stages.
He talks to an older man like he is the Buddha, or at least The Mahatma, Gandhi.

Yes, the advise is good, to some extent:

Old man, you need to move your butt...travel
That is sensible.

But to drag the octogenarian- maybe he was in his nineties - on top of a cliff seems not just stupid, but outright criminal.
Then there is the dead end in which he may find himself...

What if there is no more game?
You eat the poor squirrels, but there are none left.

You read about this edible plant and the other.
But what if you end up eating this strange fruit that looks about right, but then it kills you?

Well, this is that old guy talking here, hesitating to get on the road, just because some clients still want some leather embroideries.

Maybe the message is:

For the ultimate, extreme, divine, glorious, out of this world experience it is worth going 

Into the Wild

Even if that ends up killing you.