I've been a bit quiet recently on CineTV - not sure how it happens sometimes, work gets in the way, the intention to write in your community gets put into another basket - but, perhaps that only leads to a growing desire to blog! (I actually started this post yesterday, but felt so compelled to re-watch this film that I stopped writing, and made a date with my tele that evening to get it fresh in my mind. It's on Netflix if anyone cares to hunt it down).
Today (well, actually, it was yesterday), I wanted to talk about the film, 'Into the Wild'. It's a most masterful film by Sean Penn, and it was released in 2007, starring Emile Hirsch. The film sits somewhere between mainstream and 'arty' - and that balance offers us beautiful scenery, a non-linear narrative, and dual perspectives running parallel through the film.
The film itself is based on a true story about a young man, Christopher, who had finished his University studies and just had a moment where he felt his entire world was falling in on him. He had money, opportunity, charisma and education behind him - but he made the choice to give his life savings away to charity, to abandon the entire life he's always known, to hitch-hike across the country - and go, as the title suggests, 'Into the Wild'. - In this case, that is a metaphor for Alaska -
The film opens with Christopher arriving to the edge of his destination as a hitch-hiker, and walking through the snowy wilderness where he happens across a bus. This would become his 'home' and come to be known as 'The Magic Bus'. It is weathered, and dark - yet it provides hope and possibility that the voyage into the middle of no where would be successful.
The non-linear narrative then kicks in - as we're shown the series of events which led Christopher across the country. It begins with his college graduation - watched over by his dutifully conservative parents, who followed the American dream: build a career, have two kids, make money - yet, who are entirely distant from each other and their family. It's the opposite of what Christopher wants, as his parents insist they will financially support his Havard move - so that he can follow in their traditional footsteps.
He takes off - burning his money, cutting up his cards and identification. He loses his name, and his entire past - yet, in doing so, becomes someone knew, 'Alexander Supertramp'. This sets in motion his hitch-hiking adventures. His first stop, with an old hippie couple who are caravaning from place to place - it is a magical time, at sunset on the beach, that Alexander is able to speak to both of them, and appears to trigger something in them which would re-kindle their hippy love.
From there, Christopher (or Alexander) takes to the Colorado river - his intention is to paddle up the river to continue his adventure, without a definite location in mind. Not long up the river, he meets a Swedish couple - who in a very short time, add some flavour to the script - probably unnecessarily - but they prompt the young traveler to take the river into Mexico - by ducking under the spillway. And so he does - including two shots from the film below, the river kayaking, obviously, but another shot of young Christopher with his boat on a trolley, largely because it is so interesting.
From there, the film takes us briefly into Mexico - and through a recount and cutting to memories, Christopher speaks to the border crossing guards about coming into Mexico and living in a cave - before eventually coming back into America.
The film is then punctuated by a series of shots from Christopher's positive experiences in Alaska - he's building dams, crafting a make-shift shower - enjoying nature and being free. The sky is clear and there's an aspirational tone to the pictures we're shown.
Back in the past tense, young Christopher works in a grainery, and fast food restaurants. Everywhere he goes, people want to help him in his adventures. In one memorable scene, he is being taught the basics of butchering an animal - what to do with the carcass etc. He is given one warning though, if the flies come and the maggots set in - the beast is lost. Back in Alaska, Christopher has the chance to shoot a moose - a significant moment, as shot after shot shows him putting additional belt holes in his belt, and the actor, Emile Hirsch, is physically losing weight scene by scene for the filming of the movie. In shooting the moose - you can see this becoming the watershed point, as the horrific scene, and blood covering his entire body amounts to nothing, as the beat is lost to the flies.
Back in the journey narrative then - Chris visits 'Slab City' where he reunites with the hippy folk from his early hitchhiking, and of course, a potential love interest is introduced. At the 'Slab City' Christopher visits a make-shift church, where he hears about love and God. It adds a spiritual dimension to his quest - not in a traditional churched sense, but something far more pantheistic about finding one's true self, or seeing God, in the wilds of nature. This is an idea that we associate with the Romantic movement (think romanticism poets like Lord Byron and William Wordsworth). From there, he continues on to the hot springs, where he camps for a number of weeks amongst pot-smoking nudists. He has a chance encounter with an old veteran - and they speak into each other's lives. Christopher encouraging him to take risks and adventure, the older gent allowing Christopher to reflect on the importance of loved ones - a key theme which will emerge in the final minutes of the film.
In the final chapter of the film, the audience see Christopher grow weaker and weaker. He is living off berries, and because of the flowing rivers from the melting snow - he is seemingly trapped in his 'paradise'. He ends up eating poisonous berries - and while he survives, they only serve to weaken him further. It is becoming clear that he won't survive.
At the same as we encounter his physical weakness, we are continually engaging with a dual narrative from Christopher's sister's perspective. With his disappearance,the facades around his family have collapsed, and the entire family is struggling - it serves to show how Christopher's choices to be free and his decline are mirrored by what happens to his family.
As Christopher lays down to die, he revokes the name 'Alexander Supertramp' - learning to call things as they actually are. Without energy, in a state of starvation, the film depicts him looking into the sky - and shares his epiphany: Happiness is only real when you can share it with someone else - the irony is this discovery is made in his isolation - and then he dies.
Rather than his life flashing before his eyes, the film makers imagine a reunion with his family - as if he'd made it home to share his epiphany. He wonders, 'What if...?' - 'What if I were smiling and running into your arms. Would you see what I see now?' - a challenge to the American dream, but a despairing realisation for him of its necessity in the human condition.
Supers then flash across the screen, grounding the story in its true origins: Two weeks after Chris' death, moose-hunters found his body in the bus. His sister then visits Alaska to collect his ashes and return him back home.
So why did film hit me so hard? I must have been about the same age, or close enough to it as the kid in the film. I was finishing my University studies, I was well set up, and had a family behind me that allowed big dreams and opportunity. With that, also came the weight of pressure. There was a sense of heaviness which came from my parents - they would often remind me about the king's ransom that they paid on school fees throughout my life, and they had every expectation that I would have a high profile career. I remember when I walked away from my Law degree and into Education, it broke my mum. So I got the film - I won every academic prize the University had to offer in my final year, and sponsored prizes external to the University - but it didn't seem to band-aid that I was going down a path with capped earning potential.
And then, this film hit even harder - as if the empathy it drew from me wasn't enough. At the end of the film, the young man had died in the wilderness. The elements had taken him. They flashed up his dates:
February 12, 1968 to August 18, 1992.
For many people, these dates meant nothing - except for me, I was also born on February 12 - and it just made the film feel all the more powerful. I think I turned out alright, but the message of the film is a timeless reminder to focus on what's important in life.
This post was in response to the CineTV prompt - get on it! https://twitter.com/CineTv_io/status/1509656903026159619
All images in this post are from the movie 'Into the Wild' distributed by Paramount Vantage.
