Can any movie on any story get any better than this?

Rating: 10/10 (16 October 2010)

With more than 500 reviews to its credit I doubt that anyone will get to read mine. Not to write this review based on this perception, however, is to let down the person that inspired this story and to confess that I failed this movie. This has got to be the greatest story put into a movie I have ever watched. This could have been my own story if I have not chosen to run and delve into academia to escape the very things that drove Chris away from the university and civilization and into the wild. In the end it isn't what I didn't achieve in academic distinction in medicine in spite of my modest success but what I missed in not towing Chris's path that haunts me after watching this movie.
Each one of us would react differently to the movie but this powerful story will grip us and make us reassess our own values. Watching the camera zoom out in the final scene, we are caught searching our own souls and asking ourselves if we have the courage to do what this young man did with his life.
I gave this movie a perfect score of 10/10 not because of its stunning cinematography, sound, editing, the labour and the insight that motivated and went into making the movie and especially the great outdoor shots, but because it captured a story so effortlessly and passively you would imagine that the story just told itself without a script, a film crew and a director. Sean Penn has proved with this movie that he is not just one of the greatest actors alive but also among the greatest movie directors.
Yes, this is the most incredible and compelling story ever put on the screen that I have ever watched. I am almost 49 years old but I hope it is not too late for me to find what Chris found.