Lovely Film, but Have to Ask: Has Penn Absorbed the Lessons of Herzog?

Rating: 8/10 (21 September 2007)

Sean Penn has made a lovely film, probably the finest of his directing career. The casting is superb, with some especially fine work from Catherine Keener and an astonishingly moving performance from veteran performer Hal Holbrook, who doesn't leave a dry eye in the house and (no hype here) is a likely bet for bagging the Oscar in the supporting category. But the film belongs to the charming, charismatic Emile Hirsch who does a fine job embodying the film's free form, wandering - and ultimately reckless - spirit. On that note, I'll mention the uncanny parallels between "Into the Wild" and Herzog's "Grizzly Man," both films, based on true events, concerned with real life idealistic loner-nomads who find their untimely demise in the wilds of Alaska. McCandless' and Treadwell's stories deal with many of the same themes. Herzog, who has dealt with the themes of trial by will in the face of zealous individual idealism in prior films, knows this ground well, and viewed Treadwell with a dry, discerning eye, both bemoaning his tragedy while indulging little sentiment for Treadwell's quixotic, absurdly romantic delusion about his relationship to nature. Penn is too smart not to recognize these lessons, yet, a cautionary romanticism does creep into "Into the Wild" and the film can be seductive - beautifully seductive at moments. Though moved by this film, I am unclear how to come to terms with my ambivalence concerning McCandless' idealism. Granted, unlike Herzog, Penn is functioning as a narrative filmmaker, not a documentarian, hence has an obligation to render McCandless story with a compelling, fully dimensional depiction; any good film maker would recognize this task. But what is Penn's allegiance to McCandless idealism? It is not difficult to recognize the appeal McCandless' story might hold for someone like Penn, something of an idealist (if not activist) himself and clearly, this film is close to Penn's own heart. But I am unclear how Penn, as a maturing film maker, has come to terms with his own ambivalence on the limits of idealism and the seductions of its inherent fatalism. Perhaps future films by Penn will give greater clarity to this.