Freshly graduated from college with a promising future, 22 year-old ChristopherMcCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people. Was Christopher McCandless a heroic adventurer or a naïve idealist, a rebellious 1990s Thoreau or another lost American son, a fearless risk-taker or a tragic figure who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature? McCandless’ quest took him from the wheat fields of South Dakota to a renegade trip down the Colorado River to the non-conformists’ refuge of Slab City, California, and beyond. Along the way, he encountered a series of colorful characters at the very edges of American society who shaped his understanding of life and whose lives he, in turn, changed. In the end, he tested himself by heading alone into the wilds of the great North, where everything he had seen and learned and felt came to a head in ways he never could have expected.

There is a sense of freedom, courage and a little bit of insanity into what Christopher McCandless did by trying to throw off the bonds of society and explore and see the world as it once was, to be one with nature, truly alone with oneself. There is also a brotherhood and comradeship that most people will never feel or understand before he made his great journey north to be completely alone. Tramps as they are referred to in the film and as Christopher liked to think of himself as the Supertramp see and explore the world in a way completely out of the norm, they see things differently, they view the world differently and our free from a lot of the rules of society. And they share a brotherhood only other tramps can come to understand and know. I mean the movie made me want to abandon society for a short time, hop in the car and just drive and explore and simply be. I don’t see myself wanting to completely abandon society as Christopher finally does by journeying to Alaska but to be apart of that brotherhood to explore and see the world different for just one day or one week or even one year is something that Is enticing and it takes a sense of courage to abandon everything we know and travel into the unknown.

The film does have a tendency to be a little long at times. You know that eventually he is going to have to find his way to Alaska and the movie spends a lot more time on that journey that it truly needed. Even though these are some of my favorite parts of the film as Christopher transforms himself from yuppie middle class kid to Supertramp and explores America and all its backwaters as he travels the road less traveled, I still was waiting for him to make that great journey north. Waiting to see what would happen to a character and a real person you cannot help but like and feel for. Everyone whom Christopher meets he changes in some small way, his passion for life, his passion for everything he sees rubs off on those around him. You would like to meet the real Christopher, you would want to take a wild kayak ride down the Colorado river with him, you would want to go into the wild with him.

I likened this movie to Cast Away somewhat because for a good portion of the film it is only Emile Hirsch on the screen and he has to completely sell the movie to you. The movie does cop out a little by using the sister as a voice over to fill in some of the dead spots unlike Cast Away where Tom Hanks had to do it all himself but it is still one of the most impressive acting jobs in Hollywood where they can leave you completely alone on the screen and you do not lose the audience but instead capture there imaginations and keep them glued to their seats as they laugh with you, cry with you and go on a journey with you. Emile brings comedy relief to the movie as well as he has a number of well placed one lines that are just perfect and makes you feel like you almost know his character.

The movie is based on a true story and its one of those movies after you are done watching you want to research a little more to see how much the movie does follow actual events. You feel somewhat emotionally tied to the film and its characters that were real people and you want to know more about them. The direction of Sean Penn is nearly flawless as he is proving himself to be a better director than actor, not to make a knock on his acting skills which are pretty good as well but he clearly knows how to tell a story and involve the audience in that telling. The movie is highly enjoyable and worth seeing.

Grade: B+