In 1990, young college graduate Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) abandons his wealthy but very superficial and turbulent family life for one of "tramping": adventuring in the wilderness. Redubbing himself Alexander Supertramp, he now meets characters like Jan and Rainey Burres (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker), Wayne Westerburg (Vince Vaughn) and finally and most significantly Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook), en route to Alaska where he will be challenged like never before.
Based on the true story as covered in Jon Krakauer's 1996 book, 2007's Into the Wild is a breathtaking achievement narratively, visually, and most of all emotionally. Writer-director Sean Penn nurtured this material for years and that shows in every scene. He evidently identified with McCandless (as I do) and his love and respect for nature, and thus while celebrating Chris and his actions, Penn still doesn't let his treatment of this story soften the ending or even condemn anything for it. Penn's screenplay is also well-constructed, and the work of cinematographer Eric Gautier, editor Jay Cassidy (who was Oscar-nominated) and composers Michael Brook, Kaki King and Eddie Vedder provide an exquisite visual and auditory backdrop of the wilderness.
A movie like this can't quite work, though, without a strong lead, and Emile Hirsch inhabits the role of Chris like a man possessed. The rest of the cast are also superb, most notably an Oscar-nominated Hal Holbrook as the elderly childless widower Ron Franz, who tries from concern to convince Chris to resume a "normal" life, and Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt as his warring parents Billie and Walt. But nonetheless, Into the Wild for me is Penn's finest hour above all. It's a lush, tender and devastating but never sentimental masterpiece which shows how nature and adventures can map the human soul and show its strengths and limitations.
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