Into the Wild

Review of the movie, based on the book of the same name.  If you have not read the book or heard the story then there is a big 'spoiler' relevant to the story contained within this review.  Of course this isn't a movie that is hiding anything, there are no plot twists.  Not to say that there isn't a lot of movie and a lot that is being said, but I will get to that.

Synopsis:

The movie is divided into 4 (or 5 depending on how you understand the Magic Bus) parts dealing with parts of a person's journey.  The first part was the separation of the main character from his life.  Our character's real name is Christopher, and he chooses to go by Alexander Supertramp.  He is 23, highly intelligent, accepted to Harvard and has recently graduated from college.  He has no intention of going.  He has a vision of going to Alaska, escaping the bindings of modern life and the need for money and discovering something.  The narrative jumps back and forth between him and his sister, left behind to piece together the whole story from her perspective.  The story also jumps back and forth in time, but I'm going chronological in my explanation for a few reasons.  A couple concepts get painted throughout the movie concerning this time.  One being that he is fairly naive in what he is really hoping to find.  What I saw is that what he needed to find was not in Alaska, but in the journey.  Second is that this 'lure' of the 'wild' inherit in someone is a draw of safety.  Where most of us find safety in people, barriers, walls, other's find safety in removing all of those from their life, at least for a time.

Part two is Adolescence.  Alexander first abandons his car and starts hitching across country.  He doesn't have the means to get to Alaska and knows that the best time to go is in the spring (it would be about May when he got out of school).  He meets some hippies, and after a time with them leaves.  He starts working at a farm in Iowa(?) learning the trade and enjoying the simplistic life.  That is cut short by the owner being taken into custody by the Feds.  He travels to the grand canyon and kayaks down the Colorado river taking him all the way into Mexico.  Loses the kayak in a 17 day wind storm in Baja California.  Walks his way back across the border (he has no ID).  Tries to live a day in the hustle and bustle of California and can't.  Leaves on a train out of LA and gets beaten up by an officer.  Finds himself going south for winter.  During these events the narrative of his sister describes the conditions the Chris grew up in.  Father was abusive of their mother, Chris and his sister were detached, all of them very intelligent.  You also find out that when Chris was 18 he drove across country to find where his parents met and discovered that the story they told had been a lie.  His father was still legally married to someone else with whom he had a child and his mother was the other woman.  Though none of this justifies anything this does provide the motivation for his abandonment of this life and complete rejection of contact.  

Part 3 is manhood.  Chris meets back up with his older hippie friends by chance in a trailer park in the deserts of California.  Things are slower now, at least as the movie goes.  He spends the christmas season with them and becomes good friends with a 16 year old aspiring songwriter.  In a moment of desperation the 16 year old tries to sexually attract Alexander, unsuccessfully.  There is also a scene where the female hippie devulges her past, having been left by her husband with a young son she was at a loss when her current partner came and they fell in love.  She raised her son, who at this time would be around 20 and has not heard from him since he left.  

Part 4 is obtaining wisdom.  Having left his hippie friends Alex starts to camp out near OMG (not the acronym) Springs, a nudist colony (he isn't apart of the nudist colony, as an fyi).  While at a gas station picking up more water he hitches a ride from an older gentleman who lives in the area.  Alex and the old man strike up a very deep friendship over the next few months.  The dialog here is rich and there are so many key points to the story that tears one up inside.  The old man is a widower.  While stationed overseas his wife and son were killed by a drunk driver. Both sides call each other on their situations.  The old man criticizing Alex's direction in life and Alex critizing the old man for not going out and living his life.  There is a distinct affinity between the two and when Alex finally leaves you can understand why the old man (the only child of two only children with no family) wants to adopt Alex as his grandson.

Finale.  Alex hitches his way to Alaska and travels into the wilds.  There he finds an old bus converted into temporary living quarters.  He calls it the Magic Bus.  He documents each day in the wilderness.  Setting up the shower, making a damn to fish, cleaning, clearing hunting routes and exploring the wilderness around him.  He reads extensively (probably Thoreau) and realizes how alone he is in this place.  He unsuccessfully treats the meat of a moose he kills and comes to his first real failure in life.  As of this point everything he had put his mind to he has accomplished.  After 3 months he starts to trek back but comes to a raging river where only a stream had been in the spring.  He is unable to find meat as the animals have migrated out of the region in preparations for winter.  In desperation he turns to foliage using a field guide, "calling everything by its right name".  He accidentally eats a wild sweet pea plant mistaking it for an edible plant.  He somehow survives this only to be left with no energy.  A few days later he dies.   To me this part was important, and the way the story was told it was important that he didn't die right off.  In his quest for discovering what was truly important he learned that true happiness was when it was shared with others.  Also in the end he called everything by its true name, including himself, a sign that he had forgiven his parents and himself.

Though I've given a rough synopsis and a few (very few) interpretations there is much more to the movie.  This story, and I'm assuming the book is included in this, has an array of possible interpretations and meanings for each person depending on situation.  This movie does not try to answer many of the questions, but allows you that priveledge.  It is powerful and leaves you filled with strong humanistic emotions.  Do not watch this in a group or with someone, see it alone.  Clean flix it if you can.  If the book is anything like the movie I would recommend to read it instead.  

Rated R for Nudity and Language.