When the heart desires freedom

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2016)

I remember when this film was first released in theaters, it was a major hit and I had a lot of customers at work who kept buying the book this movie is based off one after another. It was a major bestseller. I've had a few parts of the story spoiled for me which didn't bother me when I finally watched the movie on Netflix couple months ago. So I am a late comer to this film. I titled this review "When the heart desires freedom" because that is what I think that this movie really expresses through the life of Chris McCandles. I think that we all have this desire of wanting to escape reality, all the worries and problems of life. And Christ McCandles did it in his own way.
Shot in the original places of McCandles' long adventure to finding his self actualization, the movie reminds viewers of how beautiful our country is. It almost made me want to plan a very long road trip. The cinematography in this film is simply BREATHTAKING! there's no other way of describing it. It took me a bit by surprise that Sean Penn directed this film, and even though it was with Jon Krakauer's help, I was still surprised just how magnificently well the film was directed. Kristen Stewart had a more smaller role, but did a good job. I didn't know that she was in the film and so that took me by surprise a bit too. I was kind of refreshing to see her in a non-teen movie kind of role and I think that she has been trying to shake off the image of Bella from Twilight. She certainly succeeded in this movie in my opinion.
I think that one of the most important things that this movie teaches is to enjoy life. All the problems of the world are just trivial things that seem to create huge stress and in many cases division between people. In this case Chris McCandles reminds us about the beautiful things in life that we take for granted because we simply don't stop and admire the beauty of nature around us.