Into the Wild

“Happiness is only real when shared,” Christopher McCandless wrote in his journal as he shivered in the bitter Alaskan cold. Though McCandless’s life was far from happy, it too needed to be shared. With Into The Wild, Sean Penn took on the challenge of directing McCandless’s life story, successfully remaining true to the facts and to McCandless’s ideals, struggles and rare feelings of happiness.

Into the Wild loyally recounts the true story of McCandless’s journey into the Alaskan wilderness after graduating from college, giving away his life savings and leaving his family behind without a word. The film portrays the world through McCandless’s eyes, and shows how his life affected others to an extent he never knew.

Adapted from Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book, Into the Wild was filmed in 33 locations around the United States, with sweeping shots of Alaskan forests and the city of Los Angeles set side by side. The editing of the various landscapes captures both the beauty and pain that McCandless experiences as he searches for meaning and a bond with nature in a society he sees overrun by materialism.

Emile Hirsch is remarkable as McCandless, skillfully handling a complex balance of anger at society and happiness at merely being alive.

The veteran actors in the supporting cast turn in nearly perfect performances as well.  McCandless’s parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) deftly portray the family’s slow crumble as they realize their son chose to leave, with no plans to ever return home. In one agonizing scene, we see Hurt as Walt McCandless collapse in the middle of the street in unbearable hurt over his lost son, a man in true, deep pain. Catherine Keener is excellent as Jan Burres, a free-spirited traveler who loves Chris as her own son in the short time they are together despite her own troubled past. The most powerful supporting character is the elderly widower Ron Franz, portrayed by Hal Holbrook, who is able to convey Franz’s tough outer shell as well as the honesty and loneliness that he eventually reveals to Chris as they become friends.

As the film cuts back and forth between Chris’s struggle to survive in barren Alaska and his past interactions with his family and those he met along the way, the audience experiences a privileged look at McCandless’s range of feelings. His family does not see the pure joy spill across his face as he runs with a herd of wild horses, and Jan Burres only knows what Chris tells her about the violence in his past. This filmic style precisely captures Chris’s life — not one person completely knew him and it was only after his journey ended that those who knew him could see into the depths of his heart.

Despite the gorgeous settings and brilliant acting, the film has a few flaws. A childish, distracting yellow text spells across the screen in the opening scene and again half way through the film as an attempt to cram in more of Chris’s thoughts without resorting to even more voiceovers. The frequent narration by Chris’s sister Carine, played by Jena Malone, is too wordy and complicated to have come from a girl in her teens.

Most importantly, however, Sean Penn remains loyal to the Chris McCandless story. As the final intense scene plays out, transitioning in a split second from raging emotion to complete serenity, Penn’s success in telling Chris’s story from start to finish with utter honesty is evident in the way he illustrates the pain, sorrow, joy and truth that Chris shared along his journey with respect and sensitivity. It is a superb account of a courageous life.