"The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences." - Christopher Johnson McCandless
Rating - 8.5/10
Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book is visually stunning, bold and pays a great deal of respect to the true story of Christopher McCandless. The movie is a slow burn and not for those with minimal attention span, with wordless scenes rolling over and overlapping which kept me hopelessly engaged. Emile Hirsch dedicates his mind and body to playing real life McCandless, going full retard Bale-level weight loss towards the end and plays the part with real heart.
While the movie is perfect in that it tells a strong story with interesting characters and leaves you with a billion thoughts and questions flying around in your head, however I feel it suffered some pacing issues and was a bit self admiring at times.
Plot
Christopher, a 23 year old graduate from Emory University, had a bright future at Harvard Law all laid out with the support of his wealthy parents however chooses to give his $24,000 savings to Oxfam and hitch hike his way to the Alaskan wilderness. Young and ambitious, he finds companionship not in friends but in the authors of books he has his head continuously buried in, such as Jack London and Leo Tolstoy.
He dreams to live his life in the wilderness to be unburdened by wealth, society and expectations - all of which he views as things which hinder his ability to solve his existential crisis.
Along the way Christopher meets a bunch of interesting and heart warming characters and makes his own mark on their lives, most notably elderly Ron (Hal Halbrook) however nothing phases him from his ultimate goal. The movie then tracks the final weeks of his life, pieced together by Christopher's journals and diaries which were found by his body in Alaska (it's a true story so technically I ain't spoiling shit).
Cinematography
As a movie, it's great. Well filmed, some seriously breathtaking shots of nature which span over a variety of locations. I really got a broadened reminder of what life has to offer if I ever got the chance to do a bit of exploring.
However, as beautiful as they are, the shots of landscapes and the sky etc are continuous and for the first hour at least I was thinking the movie was a lot slower than I had expected. But if you're prepared for this it shouldn't bother you. Some shots such as slow mo of Christopher shaking water from his hair as he takes a shower out of a bucket went on for a bit too long and left me checking what new hotties were on my instagram feed (shameless).
Questioning the Human Spirit
110% give this a movie a shot, but I think it'll be a lot more rewarding if you keep these ideas in your head. The real impact of the movie comes after you finish, after you've had time to think about what you have watched and gone online to see some divided opinions about Christopher's journey.
On one hand you have people glorifying Chris and his courage to drop everything and pursue his dream. As a uni student I've definitely had a few moments where I question what I'm doing. I'm spending all this money to get a degree, so that I can work in a confined office for years in hopes of earning enough money to start a family and support my children through school and then retire and watch the process repeat. Sure there will be great times, but to have your life mapped out like that in a few clear cut stages can't help but feel restrictive.
It's a bleak and mundane outlook on life, sure, but one most introspective people had contemplated at some point. Maybe a law degree where 100 pages of readings give me too much time to think wasn't a great choice. But inevitably I wake up and slip back into accepting that grinding the hours of study is the right thing to do and that I'm being young and naive.
Do we lack of courage to do something like Chris did and go see what the world has to offer? We say no, and rationalise this by saying there'll be time for that later. But when?
On the other hand there are people who see Chris' journey and death as a cautionary tale. Yes his intentions were good, and he showed superhuman ambition and drive to experience the beauty of going back to humanity's roots - to live a life where it's just you and the dirt beneath your feet, the sky above and endless possibilities at your fingertips. But constant reminders in the movie about how distressed his parents were about his disappearance and how he refuses to stay with any of the companions he meets along the way show the damage that such an uncompromising life can have. He set out to go live in the wilderness alone, and no ones going to stop him from that dream. In fact he goes as far to say "you don't need human relationships to be happy, God has placed it all around us."
So the question comes down to - is it more fulfilling to live your life the "conventional" way or to lead a life where you make your choices based on your own desires. Are humans supposed to live a certain way, or have we lost sight of the freedom which we had back in the caveman days. The "conventional" way seems to be to make the most of the education and career opportunities that your parents worked so hard to forge for you, to enjoy your free time with your friends and having a a safe but enjoyable routine. Or is living your life where you are able to pursue anything you want in the world without caring about personal attachment, or what people think, and to enjoy the beauties that nature has to offer a more fulfilling approach that will allow you to make the most of life and what it means to be human?
Personally I think the movie serves as a cautionary tale to remind us that being human we are blessed with the complex mind to make conscious choices that forge where we want to go in life which separates us from other animals. We have the ability to experience true freedom in that we can do anything we really want to set our minds to. However to take it to the extreme that Chris did would be too selfish. Companionship and personal connection are too crucial and to throw away our relationships and friendships for the sake of wanting to feel truly free in chasing what we want is too much.
Just as Chris wrote in his journal during his final weeks - "happiness only real when shared".
