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Into the Wild

 
Movies:

Into the Wild

  • Director: Sean Penn
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Drama
  • Movie Type: Docudrama, Adventure Drama
  • Themes: Survival in the Wilderness, Dropping Out, Obsessive Quests
  • Main Cast: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener
  • Release Year: 2007
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 147 minutes
  • MPAA Rating: R

Plot

Into the Wild is writer/director Sean Penn's adaptation of the popular book by Jon Krakauer, a nonfiction account of the post-collegiate wanderings of a young Virginia man, who divorces himself from his friends, family, and possessions in search of a greater spiritual knowledge and communion with nature. Upon his 1990 graduation from Emory University in Atlanta, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) walks away from a loving if dysfunctional family and sends his nearly 25,000-dollar life savings to Oxfam International. Instead of the normal life his parents planned for him, Chris rechristens himself "Alexander Supertramp" and heads west in his beaten-up automobile until it no longer runs, at which point he takes up hitchhiking. The goal on the horizon? Alaska. By hook or by crook -- but without his limited cash, which he symbolically sets aflame -- Chris/Alexander determines to make it to his personal promised land, with stops along the way to experience America and its people. These adventures include a kayak trip down dangerous rapids, a gig working in a grain mill, extended stays with a hippie couple and a kindly old widower -- and enough cold, hunger, and exhaustion to leave him emotionally defeated more than once. Meanwhile, his parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) and sister (Jena Malone) haven't received so much as a postcard from him, and begin to fear the worst. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder composed the contemplative soundtrack. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Review

In Christopher McCandless, director Sean Penn has found a character that speaks to his own quest to find meaning in life. Instead of focusing on characters that are spiritually dead, as he did in his first three films, Penn gets to tell the story of a young man who is absolutely spiritually alive, and this spurs Penn the director onto a level of empathy equal to that of Penn the actor. One need not share McCandless' goals in order to appreciate Penn's movie -- this film is far from an endorsement to throw off the conventions of society and live off the land. The screenplay offers numerous reasons other than a romantic desire to lead a Thoreau-inspired life for McCandless to set off on his journey. There are painful psychological scars driving him, as well as an honest if occasionally petulant need simply to do what isn't expected of him. Emile Hirsch, the young actor playing McCandless, embodies all of these conflicting but powerful motivations in a performance that never once rings false. Hirsch succeeds grandly in the first rule of modern film acting -- he doesn't "act," he simply "is." The actor is so present in the part that the audience easily accepts how he changes the lives of those he meets during his journey. Catherine Keener delivers yet another vivid performance as Jan, a fellow tramp who, with her husband, Rainey (Brian Dierker), provides the model for the ideal family Chris never had growing up. Keener and Dierker, in an outstanding movie debut, suggest the deep history between them in little more than loving if occasionally pained looks. These people have the emotions that Chris wants to feel -- even if he does not realize that is what he wants until the end of the movie.

The story is structured in five acts, and at the end of each act Penn breaks typical movie convention and has McCandless look directly into the camera. The first time this happens it seems like a boneheaded choice -- as if the director didn't trust his audience enough to love the character on our own. But as these moments accumulate, one realizes that those looks into the camera aren't about gaining sympathy, but are about sharing intimacy. We are moved and affected by Chris' journey, just as the other characters in the film have been. When Chris learns his final lessons in Alaska, when he finally discovers the truth that he himself has been looking for, the film has the weight of Greek tragedy. But instead of devastation, one leaves the movie with a sense of exhilaration -- the sense of a life well-lived. With this film, Penn, who always seemed like an old soul trapped in a young man's body, shows that he has matured. Into the Wild is a grandly successful statement of purpose both as an artist and as a person. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Cast

Brian Dierker - Rainey; Vince Vaughn - Wayne Westerberger; Zach Galifianakis - Kevin; Kristen Stewart - Tracy; Hal Holbrook - Ron Franz

Credit

Domenic Silvestri - Art Director, John Richardson - Art Director, Francine Maisler - Casting, Mary Claire Hannan - Costume Designer, David J.Webb - First Assistant Director, Sean Penn - Director, Jay Lash Cassidy - Editor, David Blocker - Executive Producer, Frank Hildebrand - Executive Producer, John Kelly - Executive Producer, Eddie Vedder - Composer (Music Score), Michael Brook - Composer (Music Score), Kaki King - Composer (Music Score), John Kelly - Musical Direction/Supervision, Eddie Vedder - Songwriter, Derek R. Hill - Production Designer, Éric Gautier - Cinematographer, Art Linson - Producer, Sean Penn - Producer, William Pohlad - Producer, Bill Dohlad - Producer, Edward Tise - Sound/Sound Designer, Martin Hernandez - Sound/Sound Designer, Sean Penn - Screenwriter, Martin Hernandez - Supervising Sound Editor, Christopher Neely - Set Decorator, Danielle Berman - Set Decorator, Jon Krakauer - Book Author

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Alive; Deliverance; The Mosquito Coast; The Edge; Never Cry Wolf; Cast Away
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Into the Wild

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sean Penn
Produced by Sean Penn
Art Linson
William Pohlad
Written by Book:
Jon Krakauer
Screenplay:
Sean Penn
Narrated by Sharon Olds
Carine McCandless
Jena Malone
Starring Emile Hirsch
Marcia Gay Harden
William Hurt
Jena Malone
Catherine Keener
Vince Vaughn
Zach Galifianakis
Kristen Stewart
Hal Holbrook
Music by Michael Brook
Kaki King
Eddie Vedder
Cinematography Eric Gautier
Editing by Jay Cassidy
Distributed by Paramount Vantage
Release date(s) September 21, 2007
Running time 148 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $15 million
Gross revenue $56,255,142[1]

Into the Wild is a 2007 American drama film based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher McCandless. It was directed by Sean Penn, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Marcia Gay Harden, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, William Hurt, Catherine Keener, Brian Dierker, Zach Galifianakis, and Hal Holbrook. It premiered during the second edition of the Rome Film Feast. The film premiered outside of Fairbanks, Alaska on September 3, 2007,[2] and the film was issued in limited release on September 21, before a wide release on October 19.

Contents

Plot

Into the Wild recounts the true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a student-athlete at Emory University, as told by his sympathetic sister, Carine McCandless (Jena Malone). In rejection of a materialist, conventional life, and of his parents Walt McCandless (William Hurt) and Billie McCandless (Marcia Gay Harden), whom McCandless perceives as having betrayed him, McCandless destroys all of his credit cards and identification documents, donates $24,000 (nearly his entire savings) to Oxfam, and sets out on a cross-country drive in his well-used but reliable Datsun towards his ultimate goal: Alaska and, alone, to test himself and experience the wilds of nature. He does not tell his family what he is doing or where he is going and does not communicate with them thereafter, leaving them to become increasingly anxious and eventually desperate.

Along the way his automobile is caught in a flash flood and he abandons it to hitchhike after burning what remains of his dwindling cash supply. Along his travels, he encounters a hippie couple Jan Burres (Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian H. Dierker). As McCandless continues his travels, he decides work on farm a owned by Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn). However he is forced to leave after Westerberg is arrested for satellite piracy. McCandless then goes up at the Colorado River and when he is told that he may not go down by canoe without a license, he acquires a Perception Sundance 12 open-water kayak and, followed by the river police, paddles downriver eventually all the way into Mexico. There his kayak is lost in the river and he crosses back into America, thereafter traveling via freight train to Los Angeles. McCandless arrives a hippie commune and encounters Jan and Rainey again. At the commune, he meets Tracy Tatro (Kristen Stewart), who becomes attracted to McCandless. McCandless decides to continue his goal for, much to everyone's sadness. McCandless then encounters a retired but lonely leather worker, Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). After spending several months with Franz, McCandless decides leave for Alaska and Franz gives him several gears for McCandless to use. Franz offers to adopt McCandless as his grandchild, but McCandless tells him that they should discuss this after McCandless returns from Alaska and Franz becomes extremely saddened by his departure.

Nearly two years after leaving his family, McCandless crosses a stream in a remote area of Alaska and sets up camp in abandoned Fairbanks Transit bus, the "Magic Bus", used as a shelter for moose hunters. Initially McCandless is exhilarated by the isolation, the beauty of nature around and the thrill of living off the land as the spring thaw arrives. He hunts and gathers, and reads books, and keeps a diary of his thoughts. However life becomes harder; his supplies start to run out and although he kills a moose the meat is spoiled by flies and maggots. He realizes that nature is also harsh and uncaring. Ultimately on his journey of self-discovery, he concludes that true happiness can also be found in sharing, and in the joy of realization seeks to return from the wild to his friends and family.

However, to his despair McCandless finds that the stream that he crossed has become a violent torrent and he cannot return; he is trapped by nature. He is forced to return to the Magic Bus but now as a prisoner; having previously insisted on being self-sufficient he is no longer in control of his fate and can only hope for help from the outside. As his supplies run out, he is forced to gather and eat roots and plants. He has a book to help him to distinguish edible from inedible, but he confuses similar plants and is poisoned. He slowly and painfully starves. In his final hours, he continues to document his process of self-realization and accepts his fate, as he imagines his friends and family for a final time.

In an epilogue, two weeks after his death his body is found by moose hunters. The movie ends with the picture of him found undeveloped in his camera before he died. It tells that his sister carried his ashes to spread them in Alaska and she carried his ashes in her backpack on a plane.

Cast

Filming

The scenes of graduation from Emory University in the film were shot in the fall of 2006 on the front lawn of Reed College. Some of the graduation scenes were also filmed during the actual Emory University graduation on May 15, 2006.[3] The Alaska scenes depicting the area around the abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail were filmed 50 miles south of where McCandless actually died, in the tiny town of Cantwell. Filming at the actual bus would have been too remote for the technical demands of a movie shoot.[4] The production made four separate trips to Alaska to film during different seasons.

Critical reception

Into the Wild received strong positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 83% of 155 reviews of the film were positive, resulting in a "Fresh" rating.[5] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 38 reviews.[6]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and described the film as "spellbinding". Ebert wrote that Emile Hirsch gives a "hypnotic performance", saying: "It is great acting, and more than acting". Ebert said, "The movie is so good partly because it means so much, I think, to its writer-director", Sean Penn.[7]

The American Film Institute listed the film as one of ten AFI Movies of the Year for 2007.[8][9]

National Board of Review named it one of the Top Ten Films of the Year.

Into the Wild also ranks 473rd in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[10]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[11]

Awards

Wins

Nominations

  • Cinema Audio Society
    • Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures
  • Grammy Awards
    • Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media ("Guaranteed")

Box office performance

In North America, Into the Wild initially opened in limited release, in four theaters and grossed $212,440, posting a per-theater average of $53,110. For the next several weeks, the film remained in limited release until it expanded to over 600 theaters on October 19, 2007; in its first weekend of wide release, the film grossed just $2.1 million for a per-theater average of $3,249. As of December 25, 2008, the film has grossed $18,354,356 domestically and $37,281,398 internationally. In total, the film has grossed $55,635,754 worldwide.[18]

DVD release

Into the Wild was released on March 4, 2008 on standard DVD,[19] Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition DVD,[20] and standard HD DVD.[21] The standard DVD contains the feature film, audio commentary, and trailer. The special edition DVD and HD DVD additionally contain two special features entitled The Story, The Characters and The Experience. The Blu-ray Disc edition was released in France on July 16, 2008.[22] The Blu-ray edition for the US was released on December 16, 2008.[23] The UK Blu-ray was released on July 20, 2009.[24]

Soundtrack

The songs on the soundtrack were performed by Eddie Vedder, guitarist and lead singer of Pearl Jam and Jerry Hannan with his song "Society." The score was written and performed by Michael Brook and Kaki King. Vedder won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for the song "Guaranteed". The music at the end of the theatrical trailer is "Acts of Courage" by X-Ray Dog, a company that supplies music for many movie trailers.

References

  1. ^ Worldwide Total Gross data from BoxOfficeMojo.com
  2. ^ The Associated Press (2007-09-04). "'Into the Wild' premieres in Fairbanks". Anchorage Daily News. http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/story/9276769p-9191580c.html. Retrieved 2008-07-17. "The debut of “Into the Wild,” a movie directed by Sean Penn about a 24-year-old man who starved to death in the Alaska wilderness, drew a packed house Monday night." 
  3. ^ "Remake of "Nerds" Film Scrapped". The Emory Wheel. http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=17018. Retrieved 2008-01-29. 
  4. ^ "The Cult of Chris McCandless". Men's Journal. http://www.mensjournal.com/feature/M162/M162_TheCultofChrisMcCandless.html. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 
  5. ^ "Into the Wild (Rotten Tomatoes)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_the_wild/. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  6. ^ "Into the Wild (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/intothewild. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  7. ^ Roger Ebert (2007-09-28). ":: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Into the Wild (xhtml)". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/REVIEWS/709270305. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  8. ^ "No Country for Old Men, Juno named to AFI's Top 10 of year". CBC. 2007-12-17. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2007/12/17/afi-top-films.html?ref=rss. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  9. ^ AFI AWARDS 2007, afi.com
  10. ^ empireonline
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2007/toptens.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-04. 
  12. ^ "Ben Lyons' Top 10 Films of 2007 - Photo Gallery". E!. http://uk.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?galleryUUID=360de45f-1c26-41c1-99be-839812e57f83#7513b1e5-e81e-4d55-b83b-7e8b855fdef7. Retrieved 2008-07-23. 
  13. ^ Travers, Peter, (December 19, 2007) "Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  14. ^ a b David Germain; Christy Lemire (2007-12-27). "'No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics". Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Dec/20071227Go!013.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-31. 
  15. ^ "65th Golden Globe Awards Nominations & Winners". goldenglobes.org. http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/year/2007. Retrieved 2008-01-13. 
  16. ^ "Nominees - 80th Annual Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. http://www.oscars.org/80academyawards/nominees/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  17. ^ "HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION 2008 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2007". goldenglobes.org. 2007-12-13. http://www.goldenglobes.org/news/id/81. Retrieved 2007-12-17. 
  18. ^ "Into the Wild (2007)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intothewild.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 
  19. ^ Amazon.com: Into the Wild
  20. ^ Amazon.com: Into the Wild (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)
  21. ^ Amazon.com: Into The Wild (HD DVD)
  22. ^ DVDrama: Into the wild en DVD Blu-ray(French)
  23. ^ Hi-Def Digest: Into the Wild coming to Blu-ray
  24. ^ Amazon.co.uk: Into the Wild (Blu-ray)

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