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Alex 'Supertramp'. Into the wild to find himself |
A journey that reaches right into your very soul
INTO THE WILD
Directed by Sean Penn
Certificate 15
SCENE: Alaska, 1992.
A young backpacker trudges off into a forbidding white wilderness where the only sign of humanity is the line of footprints he leaves in the snow, heading north into the unknown.
This is Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a young college graduate who shed his identity to become “Alex Supertramp” and walked off from his family and friends into the wild to “find himself” in one of the most extraordinary stories of modern times.
He burns all his bridges. Sending his graduation cheque for $24,000 to Oxfam, burning any leftover dollars, and setting off with nothing in his pockets except his determination to survive in the wide open spaces.
Director and screenwriter Sean Penn has brought this true-life adventure to the screen in a remarkable saga of courage against all the odds, backed by heart-stopping photography from Eric (Motor Cycle Diaries) Gautier of an endless snowbound landscape, with foaming rivers, rocky gorges and soaring peaks, along with amazing wildlife shots that include a surprise appearance from a
massive grizzly bear.
Chris is confident he can look after himself, with a .22 rifle to shoot game and knows how to light a fire.
When he stumbles on an old bus abandoned on a ridge in the middle of nowhere, he makes it his home for his self-imposed solitude – his “magic bus” as he calls it.
His first gesture is to stand on the roof shouting “Is anybody here?” into space. There isn’t – nothing on two legs, that is.
Why did he do it? It seems to escape his troubled family, where his parents (solid performances from William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) turn out to be living a lie in a sham marriage.
As the idealistic rebel, Hirsch is tailor-made for the role, maturing before our eyes from a headstrong youth into a veteran outdoorsman.
Sean Penn makes us live every aching moment of triumph and despair with the young adventurer in an uplifting journey that reaches into your very soul.
This is more than a film, it is an experience. Savour every minute of it. |
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