Into the Wild, not exactly like Grizzly Man
I went into seeing Into the Wild convinced that the main character was a total idiot. The movie is based on the real life (and death) of Christopher McCandless.
McCandless graduated from Emory in 1990 and traded in his life savings for a life wandering around the country on foot. He stopped along the way and made friends with all kinds of folks. It’s the classic On-the-Road story. That can’t be idiotic. Except eventually he decided to find truth by hiking on foot into the wilderness of Alaska with little more than a bag of rice, a rifle, and a book about edible plants. Ah, there’s the idiocy I’m talking about.
The story immediately made me think of Grizzly Man, the real life documentary about a guy with no special animal knowledge who decided it was his calling to commune with grizzly bears. It worked out for a little while. Actually it worked out for years. He captured his yearly adventures on video. And then he was torn to strips by a grizzly bear, and that too was captured on video. This is the truth that I expected McCandless to find in the wild.
What Sean Penn’s movie does though is present the McCandless’s story without taking sides. There’s a palpable struggle for the character against the confines of society, against the expectations of his family, against expectations. Where Grizzly Man was clearly some kind of insane, McCandless was lashing out against the constraints in his life. Sure, his way of dealing was idiotic. And he paid for it when he found out that the truth of the wilderness is kill or be killed. But the story is complex and the movie does a surprisingly great job of telling it.
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Joshua Cyr said,
October 5, 2007 @ 10:08 am
I saw this movie a couple weeks ago at a small film festival. I thought it was pretty good. Many had read the book first and thought the book was much more critical of McCandless treatment of his family. I thought the movie could do a better job or showing how he wasn’t really running away from society, but from dealing with his issues he had with his family. Indeed he seemed to like people, and had lots of good interactions and friends through his travels.
Lauren said,
March 13, 2008 @ 10:56 am
If you thought he was an idiot than you don’t even understand his story. Small small minded people…
james said,
March 18, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
I just finished the movie then read the book as well. Christopher represents the drifter in all of us. From time to time we all wish we could get away from something weather it’s work, school, or family. I am sure if he had lived to tell his story he’d welcome your criticism. After all he did what he wanted to do. He took a vacation from the world only to find he was running back to it.
Hillery said,
April 2, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
I went into the film thinking exactly the same thing. For all his depth of understanding, he did something very stupid. A little extra preparation would have allowed him his grounding with nature without costing him his life. Either we accept that what he did was in a way stupid, or we accept that he was actually trying to kill himself. The idea that he thought he could make it with the preparation he had is an insult to all the people who actually can make it in the wild, and even more to all the more prepared people who can’t. There are many things to admire about the late McCandless, but what he ultimately did is not one of them.
Dan said,
April 6, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
I hitcheked across the US. Lived in the Desert for a while. Traveled leatherfoot style in Hawii. The movie brought me back to a wild stage in my youth.
Im 38 now and am glad I could reinvent myself after my travells. I feel so sorry for him, but it shows you how fragille we are. There are things in nature you can do like jump off a 300 foot rock into a river. But eating wild plants, you better be sure what you eat. In Hawaii I ate a watterpotato, bananas, coconut, spearfishing and even tried to kill a wild goat with my speargun. But the goat wouldn’t have it.
Paperdoll said,
April 13, 2008 @ 7:14 am
I watched the Sean Pean movie just last night and must say…it gave me nightmares. Although I understand McCandless need to “find truth” he really went about it a destructive way. It is clear that he had a disassociative disorder regarding human relationships, but in the end, if it’s true, he realized that people need people. Thought-provoking for sure.
DeamonHead said,
April 21, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Yea! You-You’re an Idiot!
Miguel Sedamano Ballesteros said,
May 7, 2008 @ 12:52 am
I’ve read the book “Into the wild” some weeks ago, and there’s a clear message in this story. He was a coward. Yes, unfortunaltelly, Mc Candless is the hero for many people, because he refused to play the game of his family and the society as a whole, and decided to leave everything for a suicidal fate. He wasn’t happy with his lifestyle, and chose the easy way.
I’m wondering what’s the political thought of this story? what’s his legacy? He might have choosen the way of action. He might hace decided in being part of a solution, but he ran away from the problem. He didn’t have any political consciousness, he played the game of the society.
Many people admire the life of Mc Candless like an icon of freedom, I don’t think so. Freedom isn’t just to reject a system or run away from it..Freedom is beyond of any criticism…Freedom is the ability to fight for a better society, working through work and sacrifice. Freedom is being part of a project of solution, taking action, taking responsabilities. Freedom is the door of hope for living, and we take action for getting there.
Mc Candless chose the wrong way, the easy solution. He wasn’t free. He died because of his arrogance, pride and stupidity, In other words, he played the role of his society, he lost the game.
Lori Winner said,
June 1, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
I have a hard time with the story. I do believe that the journal was real, but I think the stories came from a delusional mind.
I don’t believe that a person could survive the Colorado River with “fear of water and no or little exper. kayaking.” Here are some other examples:
How does a person cash a check $1100 for farm work, with no account and no ID.
How does a person get back into the US with no form of ID and no verification, especially in 1992 during George Bush Senior’s war on drugs. That border was difficult then.
The bus was obviously towed up to the that spot since there was no engine, therefore should have been a road leading to that location close by. His body was found by moose hunters who would need a vehicle if hunting for moose. These animals weigh a ton or more.
How can you kill a moose with a .22?
How does an inexperienced rifleman shoot a squirrel?
I have issues with the older ex-military man who took him in and wanted to adopt him…don’t believe it. Has this been verified?
I know this kid might have demonstrated some intellectuals skills, however many schzophrenics can present with normal or even high functioning emotions at first impressions, until you dig deeper.
I do understand the whole Budha exper. that he wanted to obtain, but this was not a young man wanting to exper. nature. His mental illness grew progressive worse as he suffered, and it cost him his life.
If you were to interview folks with mental illness you would find some of these same paranoiad delusions about society, money, super abilities, etc.
KC said,
June 15, 2008 @ 2:30 am
Lauen,
If you think walking into the Alaskan wilderness with no compass, no proper map, no clue and only a 10 lb bag of rice and some potato chips is not stupid, then you do indeed have a small mind.
Sabina said,
July 25, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
People make bad decisions all the time. Some have luck, some don’t. All our decisions are driven by some “issue”, but it is a question how far are we willing to go, how much do we dare and how much self-preservance instinct do we have not to go to far.
Some people go numb and don’t care for anything and some run away from the society. Not many people have the willpower to focus on solutions after they have been disappointed for so long time.
Alexandra said,
July 30, 2008 @ 11:56 pm
I read on wikipedia that he was 1/4 mile from a river crossing that would have saved his life, that would have showed up on a map had he brought one with him. Although I can’t believe he wouldn’t have wandered up and down the river looking for a place to cross. It makes me think that he either did have a death wish or was nuts, since he wasn’t stupid.
That movie stirred up all kinds of stuff for me, there were a lot of ideas in it; freedom vs responsibility, individual vs society, rebellion vs duty and family. I thought it was all interesting, but I am leery of using it as an accurate picture of Mccandless because it’s at least twice removed from reality. I didn’t know when I saw it that it was based on a true story and I couldn’t believe it when he died.
In some ways I wish I had the balls to do what he did (except for the alaska leg). In other ways he was kind of a jerk. Either way I think it’s very sad what happened to him, but I don’t get why people are canonizing him as some sort of symbol of something.