Radio Lady Reviews: "Into the Wild" (Movie opens in Portland, OR on 10/05/07)

[Radio_Lady]

Into the Wild

by Ellen Kimball / Portland’s Accessible Information Network

October 5, 2007

Into the Wild stars the young actor Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless, a tormented youth who is obsessed with a desire to explore the wilderness of Alaska. After graduating Emory University with honors in 1992, he donates the entire $24,000 in his personal bank account to Oxfam America. Then, he drives off in his old car to pursue the adventure of a lifetime. He meets all kinds of people along the way.

This is an exquisitely photographed and incredibly haunting tale of a troubled youth. Chris is plagued by personal demons and an unresolved family history. He feels he must flee all that he has known to pursue a journey of personal discovery and healing. His final destination is Alaska’s wilderness.

Into the Wild is adapted from Jon Krakauer’s bestseller of the same name. Based on a true story, it is an extremely well crafted film that succeeds dramatically, in spite of small imperfections. The screenplay was co-written by Krakauer and actor/director Sean Penn, who has told magazine reporters there were some recurrent themes in his own family structure that resounded with him immediately. The story is especially poignant as it is based on the true-life chronicle of events in McCandless’ own journals.

What can I say about actor Emile Hirsch’s powerful, remarkable performance? Hirsch is on screen almost 100% of the time. He effortlessly dominates and breathes life into every scene with his winsome smile and impressive energy. This is a surprising feat, given what a realistic and punishing role it is. Director Sean Penn contributes with his determination to film as authentically as possible in extremely realistic locations. Penn also arranges the time line to interleave the earlier portions of Chris’ travels with the travails he experiences after he plunges ‘into the wild’ in Alaska.

William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden are both excellent playing Chris’ father, Will, and mother, Billie. Jena Malone supports in the role of sister Carine, and she narrates most of the movie. Other more limited but important roles are played by Catherine Keener as Jan, Brian Dierker as Rainey, Vince Vaughn as Wayne, Kristen Stewart as Tracy and Hal Holbrook as Ron.

Each of us may have his or her own feelings as to the choices that Chris makes. Most of us will be in agreement that the tale of his epic passage into adulthood is one that we will not soon forget.

This trip Into the Wild rates a solid ‘A’ on Ellen’s Entertainment Report Card. This is Ellen Kimball on Entertainment for Portland’s Accessible Information Network.

MPAA Rating: R for language and some nudity.

Runtime: 140 minutes

Official Website: http://www.intothewild.com/

Ellen Kimball is a pioneer – one of the first women in the United States to host her own daily radio call-in talk shows in both Miami and Boston. She and her husband moved to Oregon in 1998. Ellen now contributes reviews on film, theater, and books to OPB's Accessible Information Network. You can read her complete journal here.

[Radio_Lady]

1. Are you planning to see this film this weekend?

[NC_Nurse]

2. Sounds like it.

Thanks for the head's up! :)

[Radio_Lady]

3. You're entirely welcome. Let us know what you think after you see it.

Not sure how long it will last in the movie marketplace. This may be one of those niche movies that comes and goes. It will have a lot of competition come November.

Peace, Love and Happiness...

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon

PS. Are you near Hendersonville, NC? I lived there in the mountains for several months in 1970. Beautiful place!

[NC_Nurse]

4. Hendersonville is beautiful. I live

in Chapel Hill. We go up to the mountains whenever we can.
I bet Oregon is pretty...I've never been there. :)

[Radio_Lady]

11. We have everthing in Oregon from sea level to mountains up to 11,000 ft.

After living on the East Coast all of our lives, we decided to go west when four of our five children headed out in that direction.

We follow my daughter 2,750 miles to be near her, her husband and their two children. We have a son in the Salt Lake City area, and we are going to be visiting them this month, in the St. George (southern) area of Utah. We'll be seeing Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park for the first time.

Moving here was like taking a huge jump into new geography, history, climate and other worlds. I've been here for almost ten years; my husband, Audio_Al actually arrived here on October 12, 1997.

It's really feeling like home to both of us. We have grandkids all over the west now and our one "big guy" age 18, who just finished high school in Boston -- may come here to go to college! I hope so!

[Radio_Lady]

17. *** SPOILERS BELOW!!!! *** Other posts below reveal the ending. Please be forewarned.

Many people here do not believe in movie conventions when commenting on films -- that is, NOT to reveal the ending to "spoil" it for other moviegoers. I am shocked by what has been written here, but...

...Not to worry -- a variety of reviewers have also made this the one movie they will tell you about from front to back with impunity. Perhaps they didn't like the movie at all and they want you to save your money. What other reason would there be?

I really have no idea why. I've been reviewing since 1970 and I can't remember when the convention has been so flagrantly violated. I'm still reading other reviews today. This is an art house film which will only play in one theater in Portland, Oregon (Fox Tower, downtown). So maybe it doesn't matter. The movie opened in September to limited release. Not sure what the outlook for the film is at this point.

I ask that you please conform to the standards I have set here. Thank you for your consideration.

End of rant.

[Archae]

5. Hope I don't get flamed for this...

But this McCandless kid was an idiot.

He had this romantic notion of going into seclusion, up in Alaska, in an old bus, and starved to death.
He had practically zero real survival skills, and he paid the ultimate price.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=3692219&page=1

[northzax]

6. maybe not an idiot

when you think that he survived for 113 days out there. yes, he wasn't fully prepared, and yes, he had some bad breaks, but it's pretty obvious from the book at least that he went out there to succeed or die. he got his wish.

[cobalt1999]

7. I agree with you.

He wasn't only just an idiot, but an uncaring, selfish idiot to boot. Anyone who knows how to live outdoors isn't very impressed with his "skills".

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Yeah, yeah.

He was surviving just fine until he misidentified a poisonous plant for a common edible one, a very easy mistake to make, and then got to sick to make it back out. Otherwise he would have been just fine.

[Radio_Lady]

13. This story has been questioned. I don't have the citation right now.

They could not identify exactly what happened to him.

Nevertheless, he tried to do something he thought was important and it enabled him to flee from his surroundings.

I do feel very sorry for the parents and his sister. Whatever their failings, no one in the family deserved this.

Peace, Love and Happiness,

Radio Lady in Oregon

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. What's clear...

Is that there were a lot of angry monday-morning quarterbacks who attacked this kid for no good reason.

[Radio_Lady]

12. I think he was a romantic idealist, but certainly not well prepared for his venture.

I wouldn't call him an idiot, but many have.

It is a sad story, but beautifully told. Not for everyone, most assuredly.

I encouraged people not to reveal the ending, but you have, and it's a spoiler for many people who did not read the book.

[NoodleBoy]

9. Eddie Vedder's musical input was excellent and pushed the movie over the edge for me

too bad it got scant toward the end, I was just floored by how appropriate the music Vedder wrote for it was, anyone who's been in the wilderness for more then a couple days would probably really appreciate it.

it seriously just made me melt into the seat.

btw, I got in free to an advanced screening, that's how I saw it.

[Radio_Lady]

14. Hi Noodleboy. Charlie Rose, on PBS, interviewed both Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder last month.

I believe that interview is posted at:

http://www.charlierose.com

Very interesting interview, but I was shocked because Sean Penn SMOKED CIGARETTES through the entire program!

Thanks for your comments.

Peace, Love and Happiness...

Radio Lady in Oregon

[Felix Mala]

10. I think I'll enjoy the film, but have reservations about it.

I'm afraid it will lure too many people up there to "find" themselves and in the process ruin themselves and the wilderness. Most people don't know that mountaineers make a couple trips up Mt. Everest ever year just to carry off the trash left by amateur adventurers. ABC News profiled one yahoo the other night and he looked like he was just one hangover away from his last frat kegger.

Whenever wildlife and humans meet, wildlife always loses, no matter how benign the intentions of humans.

Humans are the most domesticated animal on earth, regardless of their yearnings. If I wrote a story about a pomeranian getting back to his roots by joining a wolf pack, most people would expect either something very funny or very tragic, but not fulfilling. I even wonder if Chris McCandless had any reservations before delirium took over his mind.

The Denali wilderness isn't Disneyland... Perhaps people should stick to guided tours of national parks.

OK, I'll stop preaching now...

[Radio_Lady]

15. You're not preaching, really... just telling it like it is. We've had a couple of incidents...

recently in Oregon that have made us very cautious about the wilderness areas here. It's not like the East... there are no farmhouses around every mile or so as there are in New England. From here to the coast, you have to be very careful on the narrowest of roads over the mountains. Going to the east, it's pretty barren in the high desert. My husband and I would like to go to Hell's Canyon, but parts of Oregon are so remote, there's no chance that we will traverse all of it by the time we leave this planet.

So go to see the movie, if only for the music and the photography -- it's a cautionary tale for those who need it and will accept it. Some people have even suggested that McCandless was akin to Jesus, sacrificing himself for his cause. Who knows what went through his mind? Perhaps it was idealism, perhaps insanity.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

Peace, Love and Happiness,

Radio Lady in Oregon

[classof56]

25. Hello, Radio Lady

Just want to let you know I always enjoy your posts, reviews, comments, insights, and one of these days I'll listen to your show. Keep meaning to, but then I get "lost in the threads/posts" and once again delay tuning you in.

I saw the Charlie Rose interview with Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder interview about "Into the Wild", and found it compelling, but not sure I will see the movie. I'm into happy endings nowadays--reality and daily news are sad enough at this juncture in my life, but the filming and music alone may prompt me to get the DVD when it comes out. At any rate, thanks for your review and recommendation!

Now here's a recommendation from me: Please, please make that trip across the Cascades, continue east and enjoy the Hells Canyon area. While you're that close, check out the Wallowa Mountains--you'll be awestruck. And while the high desert may seem barren, it is actually filled with scenery, flora and fawna that will amaze and entrance you. I especially recommend the John Day Country, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, Frenchglen, Steens Mountain, Catlow Valley, the Alvord Desert--breathtakingly beautiful areas where one can renew one's spirit just by being there. It is difficult to articulate what a soul-touching experience these places afford, it just has to be seen to be believed. I know they are remote but I can guarantee, they are well worth the trip.

I recently attended a presentation by Portland author Ursula LeGuin, whose recent volume of poetry, "Incredible Good Fortune" includes a section of poems written about the Southeastern Corner of Oregon, one of her favorite places in the state. Her words capture the essence of that area--the wildness, the beauty and the spirituality. If you are into poetry at all (and even if you're not) I think you would enjoy Ursula's poems and the sense of wonder they evoke.


Take care and keep your own wonderful words coming our way. See you on the radio!

Blessings.

[Radio_Lady]

18. Anyone here see this movie on the weekend... or planning to see it?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[cathandler]

19. We saw it, Radio Lady. It was very true to Kraukauer's book.

We thought it was beautifully done, and even though Alexander Supertramp was a "tad" idealistic, it seemed that the people he came into contact with -- Jan, Rainey and Ron, in particular -- were moved by his innocence and inner beauty.

Sean Penn did a remarkable job and the ending scene -- wow! I've thought about it since seeing it yesterday.

[Radio_Lady]

20. Welcome to the DU, CatHandler! I didn't read the book, but felt the same way you did.

Any Oscar possibilities here, do you think?

Other reviewers have mentioned it.

Thanks for your comments!

Peace, Love and Happiness...

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon

[cathandler]

21. Thanks for the welcome, Radio Lady.

Oscar nominations for sure: cinematography, screenplay, original score, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch (a very long career in store for that kid) -- and just on one 20-second scene at the end of the movie, William Hurt. Man, that summed up "loss."

[Radio_Lady]

22. Re: William Hurt -- I know the scene you are speaking of... where he

crumples in the middle of the street.

I cannot imagine the pain these parents feel, or their mixed emotions about allowing Sean Penn to transfer this story to the big screen.

I have two estranged stepdaughters in their 40s, and that is bad enough... knowing that their childhood was so difficult that they felt they had to separate from their father and me -- seemingly forever. We tried to work through this for more than fifteen years, and sadly, nothing helped.

My husband did hear from one woman last week. A small email -- a painfully circumscribed note -- was all that came. It was not supposed to be shared with me. My husband answered it in a matter of fact sort of way, but he has moved on after almost ten years. It would take a miracle to renew these relationships. My husband is just too hurt to feel any pain or any other emotion.

[Radio_Lady]

23. The movie is receiving some strongly positive reviews: 8.6 out of 10 at the Internet Movie Database.

[Radio_Lady]

24. Wondering if anyone else saw this movie?