Into the Wild sort of reminded me why I’m an English major. It has been hard to remember the last couple years, but now I’ve got an inkling once again. Beyond that, the movie was definitely purchase-material. Emilie Hirsch is cute and acted well. The narration, was beautifully written and the idea was admirable. I also liked the fact that it was based on a true story, though after further research it seemed that Chris McCandless was credited with much more knowledge of survival in the movie than he had in real life. There is a fine line between thinking romantically and being stupid and unfortunately I think this kid crossed it. It was also intriguing to find out that he did not die by ingesting poisonous pea plants, but simply of starvation. Another fact that I had trouble with was that Alex did not attempt to find a narrower section of river upon trying to cross the flooded banks and rushing waters in an effort to leave the wilderness. This additional act of idiocracy did occur in real life however, as he did neglect to locate a much calmer, narrower part of the river that was located only a mile or so upstream. Ain’t that a bitch?
I mean, that should be basic human instinct. Even back in the days when I used to navigate the streams and stuff in my grandpa’s woods and pastures, if something looked too wide and deep to cross, I would make an effort to find someplace manageable. Given this kid was dealing with something much more dangerous, one would assume he’d make the effort.
Despite issues of actuality, this film was well-made, well-written, and entertained the Thoreau inside at least SOME of us, while offering a tragically beautiful reality check as well. It was much more my type of movie than Forth’s, but what can you really do? Ah yes, and the soundtrack was well done indeed. I’m afraid in this case, Eddie Vedder trumps Jonny Greenwood.
**Back.
P.S. Forth, if one day I disappear, now you’ll know where to find me.
