Eventually Krakauer published a book entitled Into the Wild in which Krakauer confesses "I won't claim to be an impartial biographer. McCandless' strange tale struck a personal note that made a dispassionate rendering of the tragedy impossible. Through most of the book, I have tried -- and largely succeeded, I think -- to minimize my authorial presence. But let the reader be warned: I interrupt McCandless' story with fragments of a narrative drawn from my own youth. I do so in the hope that my experiences will throw some oblique light on the enigma of Chris McCandless."
Sean Penn's film version of Krakauer's book could have used some of that "oblique light," something that could have cast an interesting shadow on the story of McCandless. What Penn and star Emile Hirsch present is a glowing, almost heroic portrait of McCandless as a young man who throws away all his material possessions to go on a journey of self-discovery and along the way he improves the lives of everyone he meets. The film is completely and unquestioningly on McCandless' side and that makes for a lopsided movie. McCandless' parents (played Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) are one-dimensional, brittle stereotypes. It's not that they do not love their son, it's that they do not know how to positively show love for him or for each other, and that's what the film fails to convey. Giving them a little more dimensionality would have helped define the family dynamics in more complex terms. On a certain level, what McCandless does comes across more as an act of revenge designed to hurt his parents than a gesture of liberating independence. McCandless preaches to all the people he meets about how they should be living their lives yet he cannot find the generosity of spirit to forgive his parents even a little. How difficult would it have been for him to send his parents and his sister (played by Jena Malone and whom he supposedly loved), a postcard now and again to just say he was still alive. The fact that he cuts them off seems like he's trying to punish them and that puts what he does in a different light. But Penn and Hirsch don't want us to question McCandless' actions, just accept them as the selfless acts of a young man going off into a wilderness adventure.
Although there's something very appealing in the way McCandless abandons his possessions and decides to be a free spirit, there's also something smug and pretentious about what he does. Only a spoiled, rich kid burns his money and car, and thinks nothing of it. You don't see homeless people or families on food stamps joyously burning all their posessions and cash. McCandless , wheteher he wants to admit it or not, knows deep down that at any point he can return to that wealth and comfort that he had if he wants to. He has options that others who are forced by circumstance to live on the road or in poverty don't have. McCandless can always go back home if this experiment he's trying goes wrong. But the film prefers not to cast any doubt on McCandless. Instead, the film paints him like some modern day saint or prophet. He's made out to be like the St. Francis od Assisi character in Brother Sun, Sister Moon . But in that film, the character throws all his father's possessions out the window and then goes off to live with the lepers and help the poor. McCandless doesn't have the innocenece and selflessness of St. Francis yet I felt as though the filmmakers weren't willing to admit that. The film tries to endow McCandless' life -- and death -- with more meaning that it actually had.
Hal Holbrook, who plays an aging man that McCandless inspires, is well deserving of his Oscar nomination. In fact many in the supporting cast deserve praise for creating characters that are richer and more real than Hirsch's McCandless. Most notably is Catherine Keener's Jan. There's such warmth and compassion in her performance that it is difficult to understand why McCandless would leave her. Hirsch's performance oozes with over-the-top nature boy cheeriness. He comes across like some smiling cult follower who wants to convert you with his blissful enthusiasm. While the other performers create a real world of emotions, Hirsch's performance floats above with a forced energy.
Into the Wild (rated R for language and some nudity) glorifies McCandless and in so doing it misses out on creating a more complex film. McCandless' story definitely has inspirational aspects to it but to gloss over the irresponsibility and foolishness that led to his unneccesary death is the wrong way to remember him. With Into the Wild , Penn proves he's adept at getting fine performances from his supporting cast but he delivers a film whose parts are better than the whole. For a story of a young man abandoning society for a life with higher meaning, go see the beautiful Brother Sun, Sister Moon . That film by Franco Zeffirelli, made in 1972, captured the free-spirited, love everyone mood of the sixties' hippie movement. Into the Wild tries to deliver similar values but they get processed through a filter of smug pretention and preachiness.
Companion viewing: Brother Sun, Sister Moon; The Danerous Lives of Altar Boys; Imaginary Heroes; At Close Range; Donnie Darko
