Lives up to all its hype

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2007)

A very good picture; an impassioned job by Sean Penn. Emile Hirsch is achieving better roles now with such movies as ALPHA DOG (2006) and this. Hirsch has all the ability to become one of the top actor's of his generation. While this is not what you'd call an ensemble cast movie  there are many talented actors: William Hurt (a favorite of mine), Marcia Gay Harden, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook  and the great but unknown Brian Dierker.
The actual story of Christopher J. McCandless is a heart-wrenching one  or to be more specific, the story of his demise in Stampede Trail, Alaska at age 24. McCandless was not an idiot or a moron for starving to death 20 miles from a highway  I believe, at least from this adaptation (I haven't read the book) that he must have been struggling with a undiagnosed mental illness. His giving $24,000 to charity  all but $500 of his money, his burning the other $500 (literally) later on, his changing his name to "Alexander Supertramp", his immense activity accomplished with little food and sleep  only seems to suggest mania, meaning it is possible McCandless was suffering from bi-polar disorder.
This reminded of a book which I read some time ago, called ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE: AN INQUIRY INTO VALUES. They haven't made Pirsig's book into a movie yet  this would be a challenging undertaking. Pirsig travels from Minnesota to California on a motorcycle with his son, all the while having philosophical discussions in his head. This was an excellent, excellent book. Anyone who liked this movie would like Pirsig's magnum-opus.
But this was a very good movie. See it, please.