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Traveling is a fundamental part of being human. Whether it's an evident metaphor of existential dynamics or merely for evolutionary and adaptation reasons, it's during movement that we see what was previously hidden to our eyes. It is when you move that things happen. The quest for truth requires a journey that most likely might never end. It requires a series of sacrifices that are bearable only thanks to the intuition of the destination.
Chris McCandless embarks on this journey, reborn as Alexander Supertramp (tramp = "vagabond"). He is an absolutely extreme personality, determined to go all the way to the end of the road. During the journey, he will encounter a whole series of very distinct, unusual characters, but none as extreme as himself. And perhaps precisely because of this characteristic, Chris will leave an indelible mark on each of them. The determination in the eyes of this 23-year-old who leaves the world for his own life has a magnetism that feels primordial.
This movie is not simple. From the start, I had the impression that it could be a wonderful idea or an endless pile of clichés. The risk was there, and it was strong, but it was not the case, and Sean Penn brings out one of the most evocative films of recent years.
Every unnecessary rhetoric has been avoided thanks to the sole description of the situation: a boy from a wealthy family who on a whim after graduation (thus fulfilling all types of obligations towards his parents) leaves without a trace, indeed destroying every previous connection with society, to return to the wilderness, "into the wild". There is no particular apology for his choice, nor (as one might expect from Sean Penn) big criticisms of contemporary society. Is Alexander Supertramp really an enlightened rebel possessing some superior virtue that will lead him to discover the Truth, or is he rather a boy traumatized by his family history, fleeing from harsh reality in the most cowardly and senseless way? And what is the truth, the Real Truth? Do we reach it by returning to a primordial condition in contact with nature's extreme side, or do we achieve it by rising from nature and making social contracts with our peers? Every answer seems to reveal a weakness at some point.
And perhaps the message of the movie, if it has one, lies in these questions. Man is an extreme being in his complexity, and precisely because of this, he is disarmingly imperfect.
Yet, perhaps this imperfect being, in the end, is capable of reaching his own, personal truth. And thanks to it, understand his mistakes ("happiness only real when shared") while observing their disarming beauty.
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By ilfreddo
Watching this film, you might feel like following the protagonist’s footsteps and leaving without a destination.
It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong... To say he lived, he had to try it on his own skin and step out from the quotes of the countless books that kept him company.
By CannibalKid
"Career is a 20th-century invention," he claims.
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By R2061478
Is it true that work ennobles people? Or perhaps, does it make them slaves?
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By mauro60
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"Happiness is only real when shared."
