Happiness is best when shared

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2017)

Happiness is best when shared. This is the lesson Christopher McCandless learned at the end, though that may have been too late.
His family situation may have driven him away, but his spirit, fueled by the writings of Thoreau, Tolstoy, and others, drove him forward, toward the west, then toward the north, into Alaska.
I don't think he merely seeked adventure on his journey, as the movie synopsis suggested, but believe that he also pursued truth, and went out into the wild to define true happiness. He also seeked freedom, from family, society, and societal constructs such as money. Only when he became desperate alone in the wild did he finally realize that other people—other humans—are part of what make him truly happy.
I do not know whether he died in sadness or happiness, knowing that he had figured out the truth for himself but that he was no longer able to pursue it.
I read the book as well, and think it sad that he gave up the search for civilization after confronting the river. Though he had much energy to seek out this adventure, he did not carry it out with full determination. He was set back by failures and defeats, such as wasting the moose that he killed and not being able to cross the river.
In fact, had he gone a bit farther down the river, he would have found a way to cross the river. Had he explored a little farther in another direction, he would have found a highway that could lead him towards help.
But he didn't. He stayed in the bus and gave up. That was the greatest tragedy of his life.
Some may say that he could not handle the stresses of life in civilization and at home, but if that were all that it was, he could have easily ended up in the streets and losing himself in drugs. He did not do that. Instead, he trekked the paths no others had been on before. He was a trailblazer. He lived a fulfilling few years in search of something that he believed in, and that is commendable.
Though the movie did not drive me to tears, I was more moved on the inside than possibly any other movie save Shawshank. A beautiful movie not only in storytelling and cinematography, but, more importantly, in the subtle message that only a careful viewer would be willing to digest. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to reflect upon my own life, and see the beautiful and mesmerizing power of nature as well as the danger of adhering too strongly to a book-based vision.