Rent Into the Wild (2007)

Haunting, moving, though not entirely accurate. - Into the Wild review by CP Customer

Based on the book by Jon Krakauer, Into The Wild tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a middle class 22 year old, who after graduation from college gives away the remaining $24,000 of his college fund to charity, destroys all forms of identification and heads off on a quest to live in the Alaskan wilderness, along the way camping outdoors and living off the land. One thing I did feel uncomfortable with is that the film is pretty selective on what speculative information is depicted as true events and what known events they selectively chose to ignore. The book is very much based on third party accounts of McCandless life and McCandless’s journal of abbreviated notes, which has been updated by the author many times due to repeated criticism of Krakauer’s disregard of factual events and the authors’ speculation of unknown events. Sean Penn’s film shows Christopher McCandless as naive, focussed, sometimes selfish but overall in a fairly good light. When in truth McCandless was often described by others as reckless, arrogant and lacking any common sense. Despite the criticism of being slightly one sided and selective of actual events, this is a very good film, with stunning cinematography and first rate performances from the whole cast. Be warned, this is quite a slow paced film which feels every minute of its two and half hour running time, however it does hold your attention throughout. If it ever gets a DVD release you should also check out the 2006 documentary ‘Call Of The Wild’ in which filmmaker Ron Lamothe retraces McCandless’s exact journey through 30 states and interviews those who came into contact with him.

into the wild - Into the Wild review by CP Customer

very interesting film,story well told very well acted,not downbeat,involving characters,nice to see a film with reality and some genuine Real 'nice' people,rather than 'downers' and 'sinners'

the actor we all know,notby name nessecarily,

hal holbrook, richly deserved his best supporting actor acadamy award.

good watch well recomended and if a touch long,never misses to keep you interested,great photography,wish I seen a high def version.

well handled and richly entertaining.

Nauseating - Into the Wild review by Tim from London

I was very disappointed with this (very long and plodding)film about a young gifted boy who breaks all ties with his family to venture into Alaska. This is not however a journey to 'find himself' - as this 23 year old is completelly self-aware and able to pass on his knowledge and wisdom to all the grown ups he meets on his way. As you can probably tell, I felt that the film fell into the trap of idealising the boy and his motives. Yes, we are shown some of the consequences of his actions on his parents - but we are firmly told that they are bad people who probably deserved it. This is not helped by a tedious voice over - full of cliches dressed up as art. The film clearly saw Christopher as being 'a symbol of countless young people' - I thought it presented a very good argument in favour of national service!