A difficult film

Rating: 6/10 (13 November 2007)

I found the film to be very intense, and still can't decide on whether I liked it or not. There are a few glaring problems with it, I know, but there were also some wonderful things about it too.
I agree with what a lot of reviewers and posters here have been saying. Penn missed a lot of opportunity to analyse and explain Chris' behaviour, but it seems that a lot of people who want to see this film have or intend to read the book, so perhaps the romantic version Penn presents shouldn't be dismissed as a missed opportunity. The analysis I imagine the book to provide (and will know about for certain in a few days!) must be a difficult thing to translate into film. Chris came across as a little pretentious at times, I don't know if he was supposed to. I understand that he was supposed to be naive and selfish, but was he pretentious?
The biggest triumph of the film for me was the cinematography. It absolutely captured what Chris and the others were so in love with. Beautiful. Loved Eddie Vedder's songs too.
I will definitely be picking up the book, and I hope to understand Chris McCandless when I do. The film was wonderfully shot, had brilliant acting, but still left a little something to be desired.