Insightful and gorgeously filmed

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2008)

Nearly everyone goes through a time where they are resentful towards their parents, feeling them to be over-protective, inattentive, or that they simply don't understand their kids. Christopher McCandless was no different, but he took his rebellion to an extreme.
Director Sean Penn wants the viewer to identify with McCandless in this way, but his rebellion is so extreme that while he may be likable enough for the viewer to find him sympathetic, it is difficult to empathize with him. This hurts the romanticized sense of adventure that the movie wants to fill the viewer with, which is already hindered if one knows the ending (which most people probably already do).
For Chris, this "Alaskan Adventure" is an escape, an escape from the wrongs he finds with normal civilization. More importantly, it's an escape from being trapped with parents who fight all the time, and are living lies that they hide from him and his sister. This feeling of being trapped is something that most people can relate to, but his conflicts with his parents are not developed enough to make as much of an impact as Penn probably intended. Still, we are able to understand Chris's motives. His frustration (and thirst for adventure) are enough to make him leave everything behind and live a life of complete freedom. But not until it's too late does Chris realize that he's pretty naiive and doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. This is a problem (in a general way) that many teenagers face. They feel so trapped by their parents and their desire to run their kid's lives that sometimes the teenagers rebel, but their desire for escapism can blind them to some unforeseen consequences. Such is what happens to Christopher McCandless.
The performances are great. Emile Hirsch, who gave a solid performance in "Alpha Dog," is even better here. He's beginning to show that in the near future that he's going to be a force to be reckoned with. It's a challenge to play someone who is so voluntarily "not normal," but every note of Chris's stubborn desire for freedom rings true. The supporting characters are great as well. Hal Holbrook may have gotten the Oscar nomination, but the performance that I thought was the best was Catherine Keener's Jan Burres. Judging by the Academy's love of conflicted, tragic individuals, it's easy to understand why Holbrook was nominated, but the reality of it is that Hirsch equals him).
Sean Penn is a great director. His use of nature images enhances the setting and the tone of the film. And they're amazing to look at. Another film that came out around the same time was "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Both films were epic in scale and used plenty of gorgeous cinematography. While the latter was slow moving, "Into the Wild" is not. With a running time of nearly three hours, it may be easy to assume that this is a very slow moving film, and probably overlong. Not so. The film moves along pretty quickly, yet everything is pretty developed (except the part with Sonja and Mads, but they weren't that important anyway. That and the amount of time they interacted was short anyway, at least as the movie intended).
Still, even with its flaws, "Into the Wild" is still a great movie. Definitely worth a watch.