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Into the Wild is a 2007 American drama film based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same namemarker by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher McCandlessmarker. It was directed by Sean Penn, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Marcia Gay Harden, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, William Hurt, Catherine Keener, Brian Dierker, Zach Galifianakis, and Hal Holbrook. It premiered during the second edition of the Rome Film Feast. The film premiered outside of Fairbanks, Alaskamarker on September 3, 2007, and the film was issued in limited release on September 21, before a wide release on October 19.

Plot

Into the Wild recounts the true story of Christopher McCandlessmarker (Emile Hirsch), a student-athlete at Emory Universitymarker, as told by his sympathetic sister, Carine McCandless (Jena Malone). In rejection of a materialist, conventional life, and of his parents Walt McCandless (William Hurt) and Billie McCandless (Marcia Gay Harden), whom McCandless perceives as having betrayed him, McCandless destroys all of his credit cards and identification documents, donates $24,000 (nearly his entire savings) to Oxfam, and sets out on a cross-country drive in his well-used but reliable Datsun towards his ultimate goal: Alaska and, alone, to test himself and experience the wilds of nature. He does not tell his family what he is doing or where he is going and does not communicate with them thereafter, leaving them to become increasingly anxious and eventually desperate.

Along the way his automobile is caught in a flash flood and he abandons it to hitchhike after burning what remains of his dwindling cash supply. Along his travels, he encounters a hippie couple Jan Burres (Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian H. Dierker). As McCandless continues his travels, he decides to work on a farm owned by Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn). However he is forced to leave after Westerberg is arrested for satellite piracy. McCandless then goes up at the Colorado River and when he is told that he may not go down by canoe without a license, he acquires a Perception Sundance 12 open-water kayak and, followed by the river police, paddles downriver eventually all the way into Mexico. There his kayak is lost in a sandstorm and he crosses back into America, thereafter traveling via freight train to Los Angeles.McCandless arrives at a hippie commune and encounters Jan and Rainey again. At the commune, he meets Tracy Tatro (Kristen Stewart), who becomes attracted to McCandless. McCandless decides to continue his goal for, much to everyone's sadness. McCandless then encounters a retired but lonely leather worker, Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). After spending several months with Franz, McCandless decides to leave for Alaska and Franz gives him gear to use. Franz offers to adopt McCandless as his grandchild, but McCandless tells him that they should discuss this after McCandless returns from Alaska and Franz becomes extremely saddened by his departure.

Nearly two years after leaving his family, McCandless crosses a stream in a remote area of Alaska and sets up camp in abandoned Fairbanks Transit bus, the "Magic Bus", used as a shelter for moose hunters. Initially McCandless is exhilarated by the isolation, the beauty of nature around and the thrill of living off the land as the spring thaw arrives. He hunts and gathers, and reads books, and keeps a diary of his thoughts. However life becomes harder; his supplies start to run out and although he kills a moose the meat is spoiled by flies and maggots. He realizes that nature is also harsh and uncaring. Ultimately on his journey of self-discovery, he concludes that true happiness can also be found in sharing, and in the joy of realization seeks to return from the wild to his friends and family.

However, to his despair McCandless finds that the stream that he crossed has become a violent torrent and he cannot return; he is trapped by nature. He is forced to return to the Magic Bus but now as a prisoner; having previously insisted on being self-sufficient he is no longer in control of his fate and can only hope for help from the outside. As his supplies run out, he is forced to gather and eat roots and plants. He has a book to help him to distinguish edible from inedible, but he confuses similar plants and is poisoned. He slowly and painfully starves. In his final hours, he continues to document his process of self-realization and accepts his fate, as he imagines his friends and family for a final time.

In an epilogue, two weeks after his death his body is found by moose hunters. The movie ends with the picture of him found undeveloped in his camera before he died. It tells that his sister carried his ashes from Alaska to the eastern seaboard by plane with the ashes in her backpack.

Cast



Filming

The scenes of graduation from Emory Universitymarker in the film were shot in the fall of 2006 on the front lawn of Reed Collegemarker. Some of the graduation scenes were also filmed during the actual Emory Universitymarker graduation on May 15, 2006. The Alaska scenes depicting the area around the abandoned bus on the Stampede Trailmarker were filmed 50 miles south of where McCandless actually died, in the tiny town of Cantwellmarker. Filming at the actual bus would have been too remote for the technical demands of a movie shoot. The production made four separate trips to Alaska to film during different seasons.

Critical reception

Into the Wild received strong positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 83% of 155 reviews of the film were positive, resulting in a "Fresh" rating. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 38 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and described the film as "spellbinding". Ebert wrote that Emile Hirsch gives a "hypnotic performance", saying: "It is great acting, and more than acting". Ebert said, "The movie is so good partly because it means so much, I think, to its writer-director", Sean Penn.

The American Film Institute listed the film as one of ten AFI Movies of the Year for 2007.

National Board of Review named it one of the Top Ten Films of the Year.

Into the Wild also ranks 473rd in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.

Awards

Wins















Nominations































Box office performance

In North America, Into the Wild initially opened in limited release, in four theaters and grossed $212,440, posting a per-theater average of $53,110. For the next several weeks, the film remained in limited release until it expanded to over 600 theaters on October 19, 2007; in its first weekend of wide release, the film grossed just $2.1 million for a per-theater average of $3,249. As of December 25, 2008, the film has grossed $18,354,356 domestically and $37,281,398 internationally. In total, the film has grossed $55,635,754 worldwide.

DVD release

Into the Wild was released on March 4, 2008 on standard DVD, Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition DVD, and standard HD DVD. The standard DVD contains the feature film, audio commentary, and trailer. The special edition DVD and HD DVD additionally contain two special features entitled The Story, The Characters and The Experience. The Blu-ray Disc edition was released in France on July 16, 2008. The Blu-ray edition for the US was released on December 16, 2008. The UK Blu-ray was released on July 20, 2009.

Soundtrack

The songs on the soundtrack were performed by Eddie Vedder, guitarist and lead singer of Pearl Jam and Jerry Hannan with his song "Society." The score was written and performed by Michael Brook and Kaki King. Vedder won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for the song "Guaranteed". The music at the end of the theatrical trailer is "Acts of Courage" by X-Ray Dog, a company that supplies music for many movie trailers.

References

  1. AFI AWARDS 2007, afi.com
  2. empireonline
  3. Travers, Peter, (December 19, 2007) "Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20
  4. Amazon.com: Into the Wild
  5. Amazon.com: Into the Wild (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)
  6. Amazon.com: Into The Wild (HD DVD)
  7. DVDrama: Into the wild en DVD Blu-ray
  8. Hi-Def Digest: Into the Wild coming to Blu-ray
  9. Amazon.co.uk: Into the Wild (Blu-ray)


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