Into the Wild is an international bestselling book by Jon Krakauer, adapted for the screen in 2007 by Sean Penn. It tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, a bright young graduate from college, who refuses to follow the career that his parents have planned for him and instead decides to walk out of his privileged life, abandon all his possessions and embark on a spiritual journey into the wild in search of adventure and in search of truth.
From his journals we learn that he travels from South Dakota to Arizona, from Mexico to Alaska, living off the barest of essentials and even though he meets a few characters along the way, he’s determined to continue his quest alone till he reaches his final destination. The beautiful Alaskan wilderness is all he was hoping for and when he finds an abandoned bus, he makes it his new home.
Emile Hirsch plays Christopher in an unforgettable performance for what is a very moving and inspiring film with fantastic cinematography and a perfect soundtrack written by Eddie Vedder. Rejection of materialism, survival in the wilderness, freedom, solitude, happiness, are only a few of the themes we are left to meditate on at the end of it.
Into the Wild is a fantastic story of growth and journey into the unknown. Christopher follows the path he has chosen for himself, not the one that society tried to dictate for him. For many, his choice is admirable and brave, while others simply don’t understand it or don’t agree with it. Christopher pays the ultimate price for his ideals at the end, but his extraordinary life and his heartbreaking story still live through Krakauer’s book and Penn’s film in all our hearts.
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