LET'S GET INTO THE WILD

I don't think many would have heard of this movie "Into the Wild" but I'm glad I picked it out of the other hundreds of movies in my hard drive.

It is a movie based on a true story about this young adventurer, Christopher Chandless. He really dislike his parents due to family arguments and disagreements. He is from a quite well-off family and naturally, the parents cared more about their money than the welfare of their children. You know how some rich parents feel that being a good parent means giving them a luxurious lifestyle.

Chris grew up to be someone who is great at writing and loves nature. So at 22, he set out from home (ran away) and embarked on his journey "Into the Wild". His destination? - Alaska Alaska, not City Alaska. Chris left everything and donated his savings of $24,000 to Oxfam. He left his promising life and future in search for an adventure.

He believes that happiness is not about the relationships with people, sometimes, happiness can be sought just by being with nature. Fair enough I guess. 

The movie is directed by Sean Penn and I must point out his excellent work and excellent cinematic visuals. I mean, for a movie that is supposed to be about nature, the scenes about the nature has got to be breathtakingly beautiful. And Penn successfully did nature justice with his scenes. 

The story is in a series of flashback (back and forth between the day he found his magic bus and his journey before he found his magic bus) and is narrated by two people, Chris and his sister. The script of the narration is beautiful. The author has brilliantly put into words the feelings of these two characters. Deep but at the same time, grasping the essence of what the two characters are trying to say. Chris talks about his adventures while Chris's sister narrates about Chris as a person.

"Into the Wild" highlights the whole journey of Chris - the different people he met that all I believe, had in some ways taught him something about life or at least, had an influence on him to a certain extent.

For example, Jan and her partner, Rainey. I believe this couple taught Chris to see things from his parents' perspective. Jan told Chris about how her son, disapproving her relationship with Rainey, ran away from home without letting her know. Now, she doesn't even know where her son is. For Chris, yes, his parents were at fault for the failure of being good parents, but in some ways he is also wrong for not letting his parents know his whereabouts.

Chris's sister narrated that Chris's disappearance has brought her parents together - they don't fight anymore but they become 'new' people, people that she herself doesn't know. To her, she feels that her parents now do not deserve the treatment that Chris is giving them. But she says that she understands that this is not the set of parents that Chris had grew up with. They were indeed really bad parents throughout Chris childhood and thus, Chris has a reason to really hate them. But now, Chris's sister just felt that they have changed for the better.

The most touching part of the story is when Chris meet an old man. I always have a soft heart for old people and when they cry, it just breaks my heart.

The man who wanted to adopt Chris. The man who taught Chris about forgiving: "When you forgive, you love"

Chris finally made it to Alaska. He trained for it and he learned how to hunt. He survived on birds, small animals and plants. He was enjoying life at first but reality soon sinks in. He was getting slimmer by the day and was suffering from malnutrition.

He became weaker, that when he decided to leave Alaska, he can't even make it across the river. Sometimes, with not enough nutrients, your brains can't function and think properly and you also don't have the physical energy. The ending showed how Chris starved and ate the wrong type of plant, poisoning himself. The end sees him hallucinating about going home and hugging his parents. Finally, he realized that happiness is something that is shared and in my interpretation, it means that you won't be happy alone. I mean we need our alone time but at the end of the day, it is about sharing our happiness with it others.

I guess part of me wants to live like him, although I don't plan to die like him. I think it is pretty cool to go around and just embrace nature and meet different people. But I'm a person who loves people. I can't stand living alone. I just enjoy the part where he gets to hang out with so many different people and learn so many things. 

It is really not a bad movie at all, though it moves a bit slow. But there are good values to be learned from the movie. There are beautiful scenery, stunning visuals and a beautiful script. This movie was also nominated for two Oscars.

The real Chris McCandless

TC-My Ratings: