Into The Wild

What a sad movie. I was truly saddened by this film when its credits began to role. I am surprised at myself for saying so, too, as I found myself slightly uninvolved in the film's first hour.

I realized, though, that's how Sean Penn (director) wanted me to feel.

You don't like Emile Hirsch very much in this movie. You admire his drive and his resourcefulness, but you hate his irrationality and you question his sanity.

I, personally, aside from the character, didn't like the choice of Hirsch for the part. He seemed too young, too fresh-faced. I think a Ryan Gosling may have destroyed a part like this. As is, though, Hirsch does well to carry the film.

Everyone knows the story; Chris McCannlis graduates college, drops everything, and decides to hitchhike across the country to Alaska, where he plans to live off the land. Along the way, he meets various characters, all of whom help him in some way. All of whom, Chris helps in some way.

What's great about all of these characters, Specifically the ones portrayed by Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, and Hal Holbrook, is that they all see through Chris. They are all wiser than he and they all know what he is searching for, but are wise enough to know that he is searching in all of the wrong places.

I don't really know what to write about this movie. It affected me on a very primal level - some place between wonder and reality, some place between growing-up and being a grownup. You can relate to Chris' urge to extricate himself from the things of man because you know the innocence of that dream - a deserted island with nothing but coconuts and sand. However, in Chris' case, you know that there is nothing innocent about it - his vision comes from pain and anger. He wants to go because he has no idea how else to address the betrayal he feels from his parents, especially his father.

The movie is a great, great tragedy.

I must say, however, that I was touched almost to tears by two segments. One being a quiet scene between Catherine Keener and Hirsch, where Keener speaks about her own son, and you can sense that she knows all the mistakes she made with her own child, but can't bare to talk about them. It is great acting.

The other is the entire last act of the movie, when Hal Holbrook turns up as a sympathetic, lonely old man who takes Chris in. Hal Holbrook breaks your heart. Plain and simple. Every line is invested with a sense of want, need, and love. I suspect that we are seeing an Oscar-nominee here in Holbrook because this is the finest acting he has ever done. When he asks his final, devastating request of Chris, it is hard to not feel emotionally walloped.

See it. I think it needs to be seen. Good luck, though.