[Frederica-l] CT: Into the Wild

[Frederica at aol.com]

here's a review of "Into the Wild," which opens tomorrow in some places and 
next week in others -- they're having a very gradual roll-out (it opened in NYC 
last week). It will appear on Christianity Today's movie page today or 
tomorrow. _http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies_ 
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies) 
 
I also saw "Game Plan," and while it's no Citizen Kane, I do recommend it for 
families with girls from 8 or 10 years old and under. It's a real 
daddy-daughter bonding movie, fun and funny. 
 
**************************
 
 
Into the Wild  
A drama based on the true story of Chris McCandless, who disappeared after 
his 1990 college graduation and spent two years roaming the country before dying 
in the Alaskan wilderness.  
Stars: *** 
Rated: R 
Genre:  Adventure, Drama 
Theater Release: September 21 
Directed by: Sean Penn 
Runtime: 140 minutes 
Cast: Emile Hirsch (Christopher McCandless), William Hurt (Walt McCandless), 
Marcia Gay Harden (Billie McCandless), Catherine Keener (Jan Burres), Vince 
Vaughn (Wayne Westerberg), Hal Holbrook (Ron Franz) 
I keep thinking I saw this movie before, except that then it starred Shirley 
Temple. A lovely young person appears and touches the lives of people from all 
walks of life, bringing them a little bit of sunshine, and guilelessly 
showing the way to a better life. But in the other movie there wasn't a close-up of 
maggots crawling through a moose carcass. Not that I remember, anyway.  
"Into the Wild" is a pretty infuriating movie, because it insists on treating 
the central character as an escapee from "Godspell." In Jon Krakauer's slim, 
fascinating, and disturbing book by the same title, Christopher McCandless is 
an ambivalent and somewhat pitiable figure. The son of a high-achieving 
couple, he did well at Emory University, but dwelt on courses concerning apartheid 
and the African food crisis. Chris became increasingly agitated by the gap 
between rich and poor, and revolted at his parents' hard-earned success, as well 
as their hopes for his life. In a letter to his sister Carine, Chris told how 
their offer of a new car as a graduation present outraged him. (Chris had 
significant problems with his father, as Krakauer had with his own father, all of 
this contributing to the power of the book.) The verb "to drop out" isn't heard 
much these days, but that's what Chris decided to do. He would disappear 
after graduation and travel around the country, living on as little as possible, a 
resistor to the conformity machine. He abandoned his car, burned his cash, 
and dined on nuts and berries. The impact on the African food crisis has not yet 
been reported.  
Chris also determined to make his escape in a way that would unmistakably 
shut his parents out. He arranged that the letters they sent him all summer (in 
lieu of calling; he had no phone) would be held until August 1, then 
returned-to-sender in bulk. At that point the trail would be cold: Chris had taken off 
two months previously. His parents would never hear from him again.  
When Chris' body was found in a bus near Denali National Park, people began 
to come forward who recalled meeting him on his travels. A middle-aged hippie 
couple named Jan and Bob (in the movie, Bob's name is changed to Rainey) picked 
him up hitchhiking, and Jan tried to talk him into contacting his parents. In 
the book, Jan has fond memories of Chris (who by this time was using the name 
"Alexander Supertramp"). But in the movie, Jan is pulling away from Rainey 
and silently brooding over something; we see her walking away down a stretch of 
beach. Chris tells Rainey that he is afraid of water, but has to start getting 
used to it sometime. He runs down the beach and playfully urges Jan into the 
waves, where the two of them leap and play. That evening we glimpse Rainey and 
Jan having a heart-to-heart in their tent.  It worked!  
Ron Franz, an octogenarian who also gave Chris a ride, gets the same 
treatment. In the book, Chris lectures Ron that he too should sell all his belongings 
and live on the road-youthful ardor both touching and amusing. But in the 
movie, when Ron asks Chris, "What are you running from?" Chris shoots back, "I 
could ask you the same," and brings Ron to a breakthrough regarding his own 
retreat from life. In the movie, Chris' only flaw is idealism. Even his parents' 
grief is a fruit of Chris' heroism. His sister notes in voiceover that "What 
Chris was saying had to be said," and that, if mom and dad were becoming better 
people, it was thanks to the hard lesson he had taught. When she felt pity for 
them she had to remember that Chris would not, that "these are not the parents 
he grew up with, but people softened by the forced reflection of their loss." 
 
So why so many stars? Mostly, because of the stars. Despite the gripes above, 
this is a terrific movie. It's a gripping story, played out in visually 
astonishing places (brace yourself for some rough images, though.) But it's the 
acting that deserves the most praise. "Into the Wild" was directed by an actor, 
Sean Penn, and he knows how to make the most of an actor. Catherine Keener is 
just right as Jan, conveying a mysterious backstory in every cheery-yet-weary 
glance. William Hurt preserves a numb, stony face throughout, only to crumple 
it exquisitely into tears in a fleeting but powerful moment near the end. 
Non-actor Brian Dierker, given an opportunity to play Rainey, creates an affable, 
scene-stealing character. 
All of this means that Emile Hirsch, just 22 years old, has to share the 
screen with many venerable performers; but he holds his own, in a role that made 
extraordinary physical demands (he dieted precipitously for the starvation 
scenes, dipping below 115 pounds). Just about every performer here deserves 
similar praise, and there's well-deserved Oscar talk going around. "Into the Wild" 
has great acting, great scenery, and a great story, and any viewer will be 
awed. It would have been just that much better if it had given us to see the real, 
flawed Chris McCandless, rather than a version made over into Shirley Temple. 


********
Frederica Mathewes-Green
www.frederica.com



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