Into The Wild

Okay, y'all know my opinions about taking a good book and making it into a crappy movie. Into the Wild was a great book; Jon Krakauer always comes at his research from personal experience - he is diligent and insightful and brings characters to a rare kind of life. Sean Penn isn't quite that talented as a screenwriter, and since he also took to directing his adaptation, well, let's just say I think Sean should stick to acting.

Into the Wild is the story of Chris McCandless who, days after his college graduation, walked away from a life of promise to become a wanderer and ultimately ended up starving to death in the Alaskan wilderness. While Krakauer wrote Chris' tale from a deep desire to understand the "why" of it all - Penn chooses to romanticize and turn Chris into some kind of patron saint of Ain't it Awful. From the book it is apparent that McCandless moved every person that he came in contact with, which makes it all the more a mystery why he always stole away in the night, leaving the people who cared about him bereft. The film makes him seem a Noble Savage - too fine for all these folks - on a vision quest that no one could possibly understand.

Emile Hirsch as Chris gave this film his best - losing 41 pounds in the process - and with his sweet, boyish charm and noble sensibilities he makes for a fine martyr. William Hurt, Vince Vaughn and Hal Holbrook all give outstanding cameo performances. There is some beautiful cinematography of some extraordinary wilderness. But in the end, Mr. Penn made a film that oversimplifies and sensationalizes rather than giving insight into the loss of this amazing young life. And that's a real tragedy. See the equally self important website here.