Into the Wild

After waiting for over a month, I was finally able to see Into the Wild... and it changed my life. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you may think that I'm exaggerating-I'm not. The movie, based off the best-selling book by Jon Krakuer, and inspired by the true story of Christopher McCandless and his great adventure to find himself, was written and directed by Sean Penn. The movie started off a little slow, and I was worried that it was going to be a disappointment. Especially, after having thoroughly enjoyed the book, literally, not being able to put it down once I picked it up. Needless to say, I was not disappointed by the movie; on the contrary, I think that the movie might actually be better than the book- that never happens.

Jon Krakuer, in the book, did an amazing job of investigating the cause of McCandless's death and the motives that he had for disserting his family and hitchhiking cross-country. He showed the similarities between Chris's life and those of other young explorers, including one of his own adventures. In the movie, Sean Penn followed every detail in the book and did a great job of capturing the nature of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) and all of his adventurousness, ideology, and the unforgiveness that led him to his ultimate, and fatal, adventure in Alaska; the story of Christopher is a classic all by its own merits but Penn did a fantastic job of capturing the true story behind a troubled adventurer.

Emile Hirsch along with the rest of the cast does a great job of portraying Chris' life and his adventures. By the end of the movie, you might be crying but you will definitely be questioning who and what's important in your life; the movie challenged me to forgive a few people in my life that have injured me and to try and love... everyone.

Watch this movie if you like adventure, epics, humanity, and traveling or if you have come to the realization that people make honest mistakes. Watch this movie if you believe in spiritual journeys and challenging the norms of society. Watch this movie (mom and friends) if you want to understand why a little about me and why I do the things I do; though the comparison to McCandless is only minimal. Do not watch this movie if you are judgmental and think that if someone hitchhikes cross- country and backpacks into the wild to survive off the land is deranged freak. Do not watch this movie if you think that just because someone dies in the wilderness that he is an idiot and did not know what he was getting himself into. That's the nature of the wilderness and that's why we go, if we didn't want a challenge, or a thrill, of something new and challenging we would stay in the box where it is "safe".