INTO THE WILD

3 Stars - POWERFUL

            When we want to find ourselves, we often set off on a geographical journey.  Our instinctive thought is that a dangerous quest into far away lands without the support of family or material resources will reveal to us who we really are.  This is the belief of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) in his true-life adventure of 1990 to 1992.  Directed with an eye for beauty and passion by Sean Penn, “Into the Wild” not only allows us to experience his odyssey but ours as well.

            With the full support of the McCandless family and based on the book by Jon Krakauer, the film presents a clear explanation of how Chris lost himself:  his father and mother had lost their way and were unable to guide Chris or his sister Carine (Jena Malone).  Presenting the tale in a non-linear fashion, and using both Chris’ and his sister’s voices as narrators to explain their pain, the film begins with Chris in the Alaskan wilderness where he happens upon a “magic bus” to shelter him from the elements.  What we soon discover is that this is the climax of his two year journey and the defining moment of his life.

            Using prose that expresses his insights into his pain, Chris explains to his sister and to us that his father Walt (William Hurt) and his mother Billie (Marcia Gay Harden) should never have become husband and wife.  Their anger and violence toward one another and Walt’s emotional abuse toward his son has created an insurmountable tension within him.  When he travels through the summer before his freshman year of college and visits family members who tell him the truth that he and his sister were born from an affair his father and mother had while his father was married to another woman, Chris’ identity becomes redefined as the bastard child of hypocritical parents.

            When he graduates from Emory University and gives the impression that he is going to go on to Harvard Law school, he instead disappears from his family’s life.  The film documents his journey of identity from a new birth into a wise adulthood with many mentors along the way.  One of the mentors is the foreman of a harvest crew in South Dakota who enfolds him under his wing. Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughan) is a “happy” guy whose life on the edge of the law soon catches up with him, but not until he has encouraged Chris to seek his Alaskan dream of living in the wild.

            Another mentor is a middle aged woman named Jan (Catherine Keener) who is an aging hippy lamenting the loss of her son who had run away from her years earlier.  The coincidental melding of their lives as a grieving mother and a runaway son is a healing moment in both of their lives.

            The last mentor is an older man named Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook).  Ron’s pain comes from the loss of his wife and child to a drunk driver decades ago while he was fighting in World War II.  Like his relationship with Jan, this too proves to be a two way street as Chris opens Ron’s heart and life while Ron reaches out to bring Chris into his family and name.  Their conversation about God, forgiveness, love and light are powerfully true.

            There are of course many others along the way who offer both temptation and danger, from the love-struck Tracy (Kristen Stewart) to the abusive security man who beats him after he throws him off a train. His odyssey provides Chris with the opportunity to redefine who he is, not as the bastard child of his abusive and controlling father, but as a man of resource and ability who longs to share his discovered happiness with others.  It is a tale of hope and tragedy woven into a fabric of life that is all too real.

 

Discussion:      

1.       The anger that Walt had toward his wife and their first-born son was portrayed as the result of their adulterous affair.  Do you believe this was the cause of his rage?  How would forgiveness and grace have been able to change everyone’s life?

 

2.       The fact that Walt kept his first wife and their son a secret from Chris and his sister is seen as deceit and hypocrisy? Do you believe parents should tell their children the sins of their lives?  Why or why not?

 

3.       The opportunities presented to Chris to be immoral, illegal and violent are all avoided by him.  Where do you believe he got this moral strength?

 

4.       How would you describe the changes that occurred in Walt and Billie as they grieved the absence of their son?  Was it depression, confession, understanding, or something else?

 

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Cinema In Focus is a social and spiritual movie commentary.  Hal Conklin is former mayor of Santa Barbara and Denny Wayman is pastor of the Free Methodist Church. For more reviews: http://www.cinemainfocus.com.