Thought-provoking, unforgettable, beautiful and unmissable.

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2008)

This movie tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a brilliant student who burned his driver's license and credit cards, gave away all of his savings to charity and set off to find himself, traveling through the US under the nickname 'Alexander Supertramp'. Sean Penn's directional outings have earlier been relatively dark stories unfolded, but he has never been near so connected to the story as he's here - Penn gets under Chris' skin with a beautifully shot movie, keeping a thoughtful pace through its 2 hours and 25 minutes. The journey is fantastic, cutting himself from his estranged parents, Chris lets his wanderlust take him anywhere, he puts millions of miles under his heels as he encounters people and nature with charisma and adventurous belief - Emilie Hirsch executes the character perfectly, his deepened thoughts of Byron and Thoreau are poetically bent and his motivations seems unclear, so Penn relates to the grasping of Chris' roots to find the dark wake of the young man's sudden disappearance. And Penn uses Chris' narrating sister, Carine (Jena Malone) to reveal why he suddenly broke free from his parents and relatives - and as the months go by even his understanding sister starts questioning Chris and his motives, but she always reminds herself that this had to happen sometime, one way or the other Christopher McCandless was a restless soul who found solace in himself. But the history feels tragic when Chris realizes that he was wrong; he is in need for human connection all the way, but especially with the moving sequences of widower Ron Franz, Hal Holbrook's great portray is introduced as Chris' achievement of wisdom. Because Chris never tried reaching out for something so spiritually or heartfelt or deepened that he would sacrifice himself for the beauty of the wilderness and freedom of no nothing; at the very end he wrote an SOS in which he was in serious injury, and needed help. Christopher McCandless had a unique courage, and you can't help feeling affected as the movie's whispers will come back to you days after watching it. Rarely we see an American film so refreshed with love for the US yet somehow digging for something even stronger, darker and thoughtful with Chris' rapid soul in the crucial revelation - and the soundtrack of Eddie Vedder's remarkable songs gives Chris' another voice than his own, haunted and strong, dark and bright. 'Into the Wild' celebrates Christopher McCandless, for everything he stood for and everything he did.