Into the Wild [Blu-Ray]

Into the Wild is one of those movies whose images stay with you after the screen goes dark. This is a tribute to the subject-- a tragic and confused young pseudo idealist, Christopher McCandless-- and Sean Penn and his crew. McCandless has just graduated from Emory University. He's bright, well-liked, talented, the world is his for the taking-- it seems. Then he chucks it all, burns his money, abandons his vehicle, donates his graduate school fund to charity and hits the road. He's a leatherfoot, hoofing all across the country from Atlanta to South Dakota, on to California and finally to his goal of the utopian loner's dream world of "Alaska". Alaska is quoted here because it represents far more for McCandless than just a remote place full of emptiness and nature. It represents the "wild" - that gorgeous and challenging place where he can find himself, or so he thinks. He's on a wild goose chase with himself but doesn't quite understand or realize it. He thinks he's stuffing life and experience and learning into all the time that he has-- he's abandoned everything including his sister and parents. In fact, he refuses to communicate with them at all. Their heartbreak, worry, fears, and frustrations are with us the viewer at all times and we wonder (as do a few characters in the film) silently, "how can he do this to them"? Chris hits the road hard. He takes odd jobs, and goes from frustrated relationship to the next one. But they always are frustrating because he simply will not give of himself. They aren't frustrating for him, but for those who want to befriend him. His search for personal meaning is truly little more than an avoidance of his own personal demons, mostly from his parents' history and rocky marriage. He is surrounded by love, people who want him, his company, his brilliance and soft, caring approach to the world. He is attractive to others, but he loathes himself somehow. In the wilds of the Alaskan wilderness he thinks he will find what he is looking for and he does, but not in the way that he expected. Again and again, people that Chris meets offer their friendship to him and sometimes their love. But he cannot accept it. Something in him prevents him from accepting love or truly giving it. Perhaps it would be contrary to the loner path that he'd chosen? This is a sad story, so beautifully filmed. The acting is spot on, too. Hal Holbrook plays an old man with a painful secret of his own. He knows that Chris and he are two of a kind and need each other. We in the audience also know this. Holbrook is Chris' chance for stability and a home, the true path to insight for someone whose core issues are built upon a perceived betrayal and lack of love from others, mainly his parents. It's a hard moment for the viewer when Chris walks away from Holbrook abandoning another fortunate opportunity for healing and happiness, but it is not so hard for Chris whose focus is solely on getting to his personal nirvana that he understands and expects Alaska to be. Alaska is a beautiful but challenging place. Superbly filmed, it is easy to see how Chris would want to be there, challenge himself and try to find himself, alone-- try to find a way to fit in with others which is truly the issue-- alone. The exact cause of Chris' death is not fully known. The book's author and Penn both make the case the McCandless accidentally poisoned himself. But later tests on the suspected plant material recovered from his camp site cast serious doubt on this theory as no poison was found. According to the diaries that he left behind he had decided to return to civilization but a raging river full of spring melt prevented him from doing so. He stayed in his camp, wasting away. But only a mile away was a perfectly usable crossing, and less than half a mile away was a still part of the river where he could have fished to his heart's content with only his hands as the fish were so plentiful there. But he did neither and apparently chose to stay and face his demons and his new understandings alone. It is not clear if Chris is a hero-- the lone introvert heading into the wilderness akin to Thoreau to find the "truth", or rather a spoiled city boy with only ignorance and dreams and personal pain and perhaps some mental illness driving him on. The locals in the wilds of Alaska often speak of such people who come to Alaska to find themselves, swollen with pride like the rivers full of melting snows. And they have little respect for them, as they tempt fate and the extreme wilderness and usually lose. McCandless affected everyone he met in a positive way. His writings are those of a young man still trying to understand but so deeply haunted by something he could only identify at the very end that was at the heart of his troubles. The tears of his parents, his friends, and even his own at the end are palatable in this beautiful film by Sean Penn. This is a deeply troubling story of someone who so needed help, was offered it-- but would not or could not accept it. The world is full of Chris McCandlesses going about their daily routines. And perhaps this is why his story has such resonance for so many. He chose to break out of the life he was living, a life that gave him no comfort or solace-- and stride into the unknown to find one that worked for him. It may be a loner's story or a vagabond's tale, but there is a universality about the demons that haunted Chris, and his single-minded yet unfortunate response to them. There is no glory here, and little to reflect upon but the pain of someone who is unable to stop, unable to find another path-- until his dream of Alaska and the wilderness with all its perils was met and its lessons pulled from it at whatever the cost. This is a superb film.

A decade ago, shortly after losing a friend in a plane crash and going through the hell of waiting for wreckage to be found, etc., I read the book that this movie is based on. Between wondering what had become of my friend and reading of Chris McCandless and his travels, I wrote a long poem for a literary journal, "Gone", which is reprinted to this day, and when asked, I always explain where Chris McCandless comes into it. I have received some feedback, then, from fans and defenders of this young man, and before I comment on the movie, I have to say this: I am a great admirer of Chris', although, somewhere, somehow, some way, I wonder whether he could have did things differently, to insure his safety and to spare his family the grief and loss they have gone through since his death. I will never bad-mouth anybody who goes in search of their dreams, their reason and their vision, and if more of us in this world did stay true to ourselves, and believe that what we want for ourselves is right and true, critics be damned, I think that we'd be a much happier lot, and not so inclined to be flipping each other off on the freeway or hating our neighbors for parking in our spaces. But - I lost a friend that wasn't found, much like Chris, for weeks, and it was one of the most gut-wrenching, heartbreaking situations I have ever experienced. To lay awake and wonder where somebody is, whether they are safe, whether they are thinking of you - it's a killer. And so, I just really want to stress: I think that Chris was somewhat a misguided angel, and he doesn't deserve the ridicule and negativity sent his way. But I also think that his situation should be used as a touchstone for anybody else thinking of trying something like this - think, plan, take supplies with you. And this is coming from a mother: Call home if you can, let somebody know that the trip is going all right and that you're a big boy/girl, now, and everyone needs to chill out.I more than openly write about my background and am known for stating that my parents shouldn't have raised corn, much less kids, but even they, IMO, deserved to know what was going on. I'm telling you, nobody should end up hurting like the survivors always end up hurting. Ok, the movie. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, from the writing and direction, to acting to the photography. Sean Penn has created a masterpiece with this film, and it's obvious that he loves the subject of the movie, Chris McCandless, as much as Chris' supporters continue to do. The movie respects the book by Jon Krakauer - the characters are more fleshed out in the film than the book, but it works here. Some movies should stay unflinchingly true to the book that came before them, but Penn wisely brought to life Chris' family, their moments of comprehension of Chris (granted, very few, it seems, other than for the loyalty shown to Chris by his sister), hangups, warts and all. I especially have more compassion for his parents after watching the movie than I did while reading the book (again, everybody is a jerk in some way, I'm a jerk more often than I care to admit); I think that it's important that the film showed the 'other side' of the story, because if you only read the book, it's pretty easy to make a pretty harsh call about a couple of Chris' family members. William Hurt brings humanity to be a very unlikable individual, and Marcia Gay Harden, as Chris' mother, is shown to have layers to her personality that Chris, being young and disillusioned, may not have caught. Again, I may personalize this movie more than I should when it comes to some facts in the McCandless family as related to my own life (the scenes of Chris' sister Carine, and the over voice narration by the actress portraying her are shattering to me, as my own brother died at 20, and I continue to think many of the thoughts Carine offers), but this is that kind of movie. You're going to see it because you can identify with the Chris character, and you long to walk off into anonymity and self-survival/preservation, or you're going to see it because you've had something even close to it touch your own life, and you want to see how others handle the loss, heartache and uncertainty. It actually is a film where the actors could have been swallowed up by the people they are portraying, and so it says something that Emile Hirsche is astonishing as Chris, William Hurt brings more to his role as Chris' father than just our wanting to blame him for everything that would come about, and, as I said, I really, really liked the actress Jena Malone as the movie's narrator/Chris' sister. Hal Holbrook had the misfortune to be nominated for an Oscar the same year the late Heath Ledger rightfully won for his portrayal as The Joker; any other year, I think that Hal would have taken it for his turn as the old man, Ron, whom Chris tries to urge back to Life, to Experience. Vince Vaughn is great for his few scenes - as I said, the movie, IMO, is flawless. The music by We're-Not-Worthy Eddie Vedder is fantastic. In closing, this movie, and the young man whom inspired it, will continue to be argued and disputed for some time to come. I think that if you want to watch it, you should, and if you think people like Chris McCandless should be eyed with the same skepticism as ghosts and UFOs, then you should steer clear. But don't trash a dead man because he followed his dreams - like I said, maybe more of us should be that true to ourselves. I loved the movie and the book, and I admire the man for trying to do what he felt he had to do.

Great film about a true story. Alex Supertramp a/k/a Chris McCandless was a very spiritual and enlightened kid. What a very sad story. This world needs more people like him with his vision and courage. Great cast and big compliments to Sean Penn's inspiration for making such a deeply interesting and cool movie. Highly recommend.

One of the most artistic and powerful movie.

I had seen this film on TV a couple of Christmases ago, and loved it. Then I forgot about it for a while until this girl I like happened to mention that she loved the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder, which admittedly is pretty rad. So then I bought it and the Blu-ray version was only a couple of quid more than the DVD version, so I figured I'd just go ahead and buy that. The picture quality is of course beautiful with Blu-ray, and there are few films out there that prove it more than this film. The high definition really brings to life the beautiful landscapes that Christopher McCandless travels through throughout the film, and generally pulls you into the story that bit more. So yeah, if you've seen the film before and liked it then the Blu-ray option is definitely worth the extra little cost, and if you haven't seen the film but are curious the go for it! It's a sad but inspiring tale and it'll make you think about life a little differently afterwards. The characters are all believable and lovely for the most part, and the performances are unfaultable. Hats off to Sean Penn also for the great directing/cinematography.

Trama (senza spoiler): Christopher McCandless, giovane laureato che decide di abbandonare la vita convenzionale per intraprendere un lungo viaggio attraverso gli Stati Uniti. Ribattezzatosi Alexander Supertramp, vive esperienze intense, incontri inaspettati e sfide naturali, fino ad addentrarsi nelle terre selvagge dell’Alaska per cercare una forma di libertà profonda. Film che ho adorato quando uscì al cinema, lo acquisto ora e lo rivedo dopo quasi vent’anni: sempre meraviglioso. Per interpretazione degli attori: protagonista Emile Hirsch nei panni di Christopher/Alex, padre William Hurt che interpreta Walt McCandless, e l’amico anziano incontrato lungo la strada, Hal Holbrook, che interpreta Ron Franz. Fotografia da lacrime di gioia e la musica di Eddie Vedder da premio Oscar. Dopo vent’anni mi sono emozionato più per la musica e l’immagine che per la storia del protagonista. Cambiano i tempi e le emozioni, forse con l’età ci si indurisce, sono pronto a diventare un vecchietto scorbutico 😁

Great movie English / French dubbed

El director Sean Penn plasma con acierto , la experiencia del viaje y la aventura a lo desconocido. Es una pelicula adaptada del best seller de Jon Krakauer " Into the Wild " y en el 2008 la pelicula obtuvo dos nominaciones l Premio Oscar , incluyendo la nominacion del actor de reparto Hal HalbrooK. Por otra parte, la pelicula me llego en un buen estado y dentro de la fecha de entrega.