F*ck Sean Penn

Rating: 7/10 (8 June 2008)

Seriously, f*ck Sean Penn. For someone who 'respects' Chris McCandless as much as Penn claims that he does, he could have done a better and more honest job with the film he made about him.
First off, a number of events in the film are completely invented or embellished. Sure, we don't know *everything* McCandless did, but we know what he didn't do. And kayaking down the Grand Canyon, meeting nude Swedes on the banks of the Colordo, and figuring out that he was poisoned were not among them. Unless Sean Penn read a different version of "Into the Wild" than I did. He may very well have. He's Sean Penn, and great, after all. Or perhaps Sean Penn thought to himself "Hey, I'm Sean Penn, I can tell a true story *better* than how it really happened!" I'm thinking that was the case.
The movie doesn't even begin to touch base on a number of things extremely important to the audience's understanding of McCandless, both as a character and a human being. There wasn't even a mention of the philosophy he read, or of himself in his younger years, or anything. And, as a result, the *reason* for his actions isn't exactly developed or elaborated upon, and will likely be lost to the viewer if they are not familiar with McCandless beforehand.
His parent's side of the story isn't exactly represented fairly, either. Years of anguish and sadness and frustration are casually explained in a few throw-away scenes. Probably because they matter so much to Sean Penn.
And, from a purely film-making standpoint, I don't agree with many of the directorial decisions Penn made. The film has more montages than all the Rocky films combined, and more cheesy voice-overs than you can shake a stick at. From my perspective, both are too artificial. Tacky, almost. Neither go well with the minimalist and humanist nature of the story being told, and with McCandless' nature especially. And given the film's largely anti-commercial nature, it only makes sense that the score is done almost entirely by big name musicians like Eddie Vedder. Actually, wait, no it doesn't. Furthermore, Penn's camera placement is clichéd and textbook, and the impact of the scenes is never really all that it could be. Sure, we *see* McCandless' hardship and loneliness and frustration, but we don't *feel* it. At least I didn't.