Beautiful movie, idiotic main character

Rating: Null/10 (2 January 2012)

With this review I have to keep two things separate. What I thought about the movie itself and what I thought about the main character, who's based on a real person. Because I had a hard time dealing with this guy during the film. He felt like one of those overly arrogant Nietzsche-quoters, who always think that they know the truth better than anyone else and are not afraid to show it. So yeah, I wasn't really rooting for this guy, which is a sad thing, because the movie itself is a great character study about following through with your dreams, believing in yourself and the dangers that follow with doing so.
And while I cannot agree with the main character of the movie, I can still admire the movie itself. Because it is put together extremely well. The pacing, the scenery, the storytelling, they all fit together to form a coherent story that's both touching and tragic at the same time. The fact that really caught my notice was the quality of the actors and the sheer scale of different characters. You could really see the effect that the main character had on the people he met during his travels and thus the final lesson he ever learned was all the more sadder because of it. In two short years he traveled all across the country, experiencing and truly living. I enjoyed the movie immensely when the main character was just a young man on a road trip and not some large than life wannabe, who was ready to ignore every hint of common sense in order to prove something to himself.
And I do get the fact that the movie is based on a real story, so they really couldn't make the movie any different, but it's still hard to watch a movie during which you just want to punch the main character and tell him to grow up and accept some responsibility. And yes, movies are about showing us different point of view, different ways of thinking, but there are limits to what you can take before it just starts to get on your nerves.
So yeah, I was left feeling extremely conflicted after this film. On the other hand I despised the main character, his dogma and his cheerful ignorance of everything worth living in this world. But on the other hand I must admit that the movie told his story masterfully, with skill rarely seen anymore. In the end I guess I'm glad that I saw this movie, if not for any other reason than to avoid making the same mistakes and, on the other hand, to live my life to its fullest, happy that I'm here to experience it.