INTO THE WILD
directed by Sean Penn
John Krakauer's Into the Wild , which I read with a fascinated dread, was one of the best reading of this summer. Chris McCandless's wanderlust, desire to live by the nature's laws and his rebellion against the system, have been for me inspiring and mind opening.
In April 1992 Christopher McCandless hitchhiked alone to Alaska into the wilderness of Mt.Mckinley, four months later his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters in an abandoned bus in the forest, the same one we see on the movie poster. How a young man from a well-to-do family came to die in the desolate wilderness of alaska is the story Krakauer tries to portray, in the most truthful way, in Into the Wild.
The book is beautifully written and keeps the form of a big newspaper's article. In the movie Sean Paul stays close to Krakauer's reconstruction of events. We find again Emile Hirsch in the role of Chris, he was able to embody wholly the character's ideals, his rebellion against his parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) and the consumeristic society they represented. As the narrating voice of the movie we find Chris's sister (Jenna Malone), which felt, as we read in the book, like the only person he had a real and natural bond with.
McCandless adventure was documented also thank to the people he meet during his idyllic journey, but as in the book it was only a collections of interviews and postcards, in the movie the experience and encounter with them is embodied by the actors strong performance.The strongest connection he was able to make was with Ron (Hal Holbrook), an old man who began to think of Chris as of a grandson. He will be one of the last person to meet Chris before his rejection of civilisation for the wildness of Alaska. He left a strong impression in all the people he meet, he was a brilliant men, hamletic in some ways to sensible and too much of a thinker to be able to live in our corrupted society.
Chris renouncing his old identity, he rename himself Alexander Supertramp, in conformity of his new way of life. Tramping around, seeing the world, meeting new people, with time made him feel strong and more comfortable with himself and his ability, so much that it took it to extreme.
His story was beautiful and full of meaning, on itself alone would have been able to make a wonderful movie, but the stunning photography, the amazing performance and the unique directing style made this movie one of the best I ever seen. I loved it as much as the book!
So my final vote for BOOK VS MOVIE is: EVEN!!
If you haven't seen it already you totally should check it out! In the meanwhile here is the trailer :
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