Great Achievement

Rating: 7/10 (9 October 2007)

I had read the book before seeing the movie and they are very different experiences. In the book you project so much into McCandless world, whereas in the film you are handed down more about what Penn understood from the book. This makes it more difficult to absorb because in some moments you gain a sense of empathy and identity and then it moves into another direction. It is difficult to understand if McCandless is a loner, adventurer or just internally angry. With this you lose a lot of what takes a film from being good to being great.
Essentially it is one man's odyssey and personal journey. The narrative of the film drives a certain set of understanding about the character that could have been better addressed if the cast was more stripped down. Too many philosophical points are trying to be made when the only real point is why people choose to take the paths they do. At a level this films tells us what that is but on another level it doesn't add up. There is more to it that we don't get to see or fully understand I think the subject would have been better handled with a different director but Penn made it his baby. By doing that he allowed his own ego to tarnish a film that should have been about the complete absence of ego. Penn clearly would have loved the lead role if he had been 25 years younger so projects it onto Hirsch, who in some cuts looks scarily like a younger Penn - so as an actor Hirsch tries to live up to something he is not. Like a dad cheering a son at football whilst all the time berating him for not doing it how he would.
The supporting class don't have any depth to them because Penn ( and this is a good thing) over estimates the intelligence of his audience to fill in the gaps.
It is certainly an accomplished film with a difficult subject and kudos for the attempt but I don't believe Penn is of the caliber of Director to pull this kind of subject off - yet.