FILM REVIEW

The Most Impactful Movie I’ve Ever Seen

A retrospective on 2007's forgotten masterpiece

In the year 2007, Into The Wild was released to a relatively tepid reception. Being only the fifth film produced by the Paramount Vantage studio, though, it was hardly shooting for major box office success. In fact, it was only the 125th highest grossing film of the year, falling well behind even movies like Hannibal Rising, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and Mr. Bean’s Holiday.

In spite of how few people saw it, though, the reviews that it received were overwhelmingly positive. Watching it in theaters for the first time at only age eleven, I actually think that it had a profound impact on the person that I became. While R-rated, my parents had heard good enough reviews from eccentric enough friends that they happily brought me along with them to go see it.

Walking into the theater, though, I had no idea just what to expect.

Into the Wild tells the story of Christopher McCandless following and surrounding his decision to abandon his friends, family and possessions in order to live a life in the wilderness.

From the film’s devastating emotional punch to the raw sense of adventure to the awe-inspiring soundtrack that it features, in many regards Into the Wild feels more akin to an experience than it does a movie. In doing justice to McCandless’ life and Jon Krakauer’s novel about it, the film differs boldly from the typical plot structure that defines so many films.

The achronological story-telling method director Sean Penn decided on achieves a crushing discordance as it jolts between the highs and lows of Chris’ story. But in its leaps between times and tones, the plot never arises to anything confounding. For me, it actually stands as the most effective cinematic implementation of that narrative device that I’ve seen yet. The jarring transitions between parts of his journey carry with them emotional blows that I hadn’t yet experienced from cinema.

Into the Wild’s soundtrack is one of the film’s most defining features. In its simplicity, Eddie Vedder’s singing and ukulele perfectly color the story being told. The songs concisely convey the highs of Chris’ expedition as well as the societal disillusionment that inspired it.

Vedder’s lyrics aren’t only thought-provoking, but they expertly capture the beauty and isolation of Chris’ grand expedition. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a soundtrack so well-suited to the story told. “Rise,” “Guaranteed,” and “Society,” are each songs that have stuck with me in a way that the soundtrack of a motion picture had never before managed to do. The rawness in Vedder’s words is palpable and their careful juxtaposition over the narrative is impeccable.

Perhaps one of Into the Wild’s most salient features is in the persevering impact that it so often leaves on viewers. When I first saw it, it spoke to me in a way that perhaps no film ever had. It clearly encapsulated thoughts that had begun to bubble beneath the surface for me at that young age. But at eleven, I struggled to really put words to them. Even then, though, there was something about Chris’ decision to break free from the shackles of society that felt oddly resonant with me.

I wasn’t the typical eleven year old, though, I guess. Maybe it was growing up listening to the Beatles that ensured this. Or maybe attending music festivals with my parents was what guaranteed I’d grow into a brooding contrarian. Or maybe… it was one too many late night talks about existence with my father beneath starry skies that set me on course to become an insufferably free spirit. Whatever it was, from those opening scenes of the movie, I was practically poised to leap head first into the story unfolding before me.

One of the defining features of a good film or series is the complexity of its characters. In the simplest of stories, there’s typically a clear sense of good and evil at play. It’s in the most dynamic stories, though, that we’re able to look differently upon the characters at different points in our lives.

Into the Wild is a movie that’s changed for me with each viewing. As a child, Into the Wild was one thing. As a teenager, another. As an adult, another still. With each successive rewatch, I find myself reaching a different conclusion on the protagonist that the film so deeply explores.

As a child, Chris’ decision to leave his life behind was one that was practically above reproach in my eyes. Once I’d grown a little older, it still seemed justified even if a little misguided. But as an adult, I see how incredibly selfish and naive of him it was to leave everyone behind in pursuit of such a lofty vision.

The famed quote in the movie that “happiness is only real when shared,” has grown to mean more and more to me each time I watch it. But at the same time that I find fault in his decision to venture off into the wilderness so ill-prepared, I sympathize more and more with that gnawing desire to escape.

I’m not sure how much of my distaste for bureaucracy I owe to Into the Wild. Maybe if my parents hadn’t brought me to that local cinema on that arbitrary week night then I wouldn’t be so discontented with the notion of working and paying taxes for the rest of my life. But each time I have to sit in a DMV now, I’m hit face first with the reality that there’s something more than all of this. Each time I fill out a job application, I remember there’s an unexplored world outside my doorstep. Each time I walk through the forest I hear echoes of the film’s poignant melodies and in each new place I travel I see ripples of Chris’ experience.

If I’d never seen Into the Wild, I feel comfortable saying that I wouldn’t quite be who I am today.

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