Called to the Wild

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2008)

"There's a land where the mountains are nameless, And the rivers all run God knows where; There are lives that are erring and aimless, And deaths that just hang by a hair"
Robert Service would have understood Chris McCandless. So would Jack London (though he would have wished Chris payed closer attention to the lessons in "To Light a Fire")
As many outdoorsmen and women on this board have said, if you enter the Wild without the proper humility and respect, there will be a price to pay. Chris set off for the Alaska in his mind, and wound up stranded in the real one.
Was McCndless a narcissist? Yes, but not a malignant one. One gets the sense he would have reconciled with his family eventually. Was he a saint? Maybe, especially when he gently deflected Kristen Stewart's overtures!
Was Chris a selfish spoiled brat, or courageous explorer of inner and outer spaces? We Americans are uncomfortable with ambiguities. Couldn't he have been both?
Penn's movie mirrors its subject- deeply flawed, yet unforgettable. Watch it and form you own opinions!