Beautiful

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2008)

Into the Wild (2007)
**** (out of 4)
Sean Penn's magical film based on the life of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) who after graduating college donated his life savings to charity so that he could go on a tour year tour of the country, which would leave him alone and dead at the age of 24 in the wilderness of Alaska. With both The Indian Runner and The Crossing Guard Penn showed signs of greatness but both films were highly flawed. With The Pledge he showed that he could create a masterpiece and he's done that yet again with this film, which is one of the most refreshing, spiritual and magical films of recent memory. I guess you could call this a message film but that might be an insult since the movie is so much more than that. I'm not sure I could put into words all the meanings behind the movie but it certainly makes you think about your life as the character is doing as he's going on with his journey of trying to find something, which he might have had all along but just didn't notice it. Penn's direction is terrific throughout as he tells the story of this young man and the director doesn't hit a wrong note throughout the 150-minutes. The music score contains classic songs as well as new acoustic material by Eddie Veddar and really captures the mood and freeness of the film. The cinematography is downright beautiful from start to finish and really captures the beauty of the various locations. The greatest thing are the performances, which are all very rich and certainly worth of Oscar talk. Hirsch goes through a lot of changes both physically and mentally and the actor perfectly captures all of this. The way he goes from the free child to simply a child lost in the world was incredibly touching. The supporting performances are just as great and features William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his parents, Brian Dieker and Catherine Kenner as a hippie couple and Vince Vaughn as a hard drinking man who gives Hirsch a job. Hal Holbrook is also very touching as an old man who realizes that he hasn't fully lived his life after tragedy hit him. As with Penn's previous films, this is a very serious look at life, love and the meaning of it all and the director doesn't pull any punches. Penn has been given credit for being one of the greatest actors of his generation but he's quickly becoming one of the greatest directors out there. This isn't a movie for dummies as it forces the viewers to think and there's not a better movie out there for that.