I wish I could simply say I am speechless (it would certainly make for a much shorter post), but the truth is I am not speechless, in fact, I have not been able to stop thinking about and analyzing different aspects of this movie since I watched it 24 hours ago. Many of you may be more familiar with the book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer (in which case, let me know if can borrow it), than the screen adaptation written by Sean Penn. For those of you unfamiliar at all, this is the chronicle Chris McCandless (aka Alexander Supertramp), a man who understood our greater purpose – happy to abandon his car after a flash flood, burn money, hitch rides, and donate twenty-some odd thousand dollars to OxFam before tramping across the US to find himself in a quest for enlightenment and forgiveness.
I do not want to give too much away for those of you who have not seen the movie or read the book, but I will say that after I read the book I plan to do a full analysis of comparing the two, along with all of the other information I have been reading about Christopher in the past day. The frames of this film are permanently etched in my mind, some of the images exhilarating, others haunting, all a truthful account of one man’s journey toward enlightenment. We all have to find our own way to understanding, and while many people disagree with the utterly careless way in which Chris went on his own quest, I think we all need to have a respect for his desire for truth and restlessly adventurous spirit.
Watch the film. According to Butterfinger it is a, “modern day biblical tale”, a description I could not possibly agree with more. Add it to your Netflix queue, go to Blockbuster, borrow from a friend, ask me for a copy, cancel dinner with your friend, put off the laundry for another day, and spend a few hours watching and thinking about this movie; do what you have to do. In the meantime, I will leave you with this quote from Chris’s journal -
“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
amazing movie…. rented it a few months ago, was silent for a couple hours following the movie, moping around the house in a weird state… couldn’t grasp what my thoughts & feelings were about what I had just watched…
shock? frustration? sadness? I don’t know that I 100% agree with what he did mainly because he abandoned his sister/ left her in that shitty situation without even a goodbye? I guess it just seemed like such a selfish act (to knowingly worry people that much) and it sort of contradicted (at times) how selfless he was.
Like i kept saying in my head “yeah, so you are going to hang out with these people and make them your surrogate family, but you aren’t going to even make sure your sister is ok?”
Not my life though, his to live how he wanted.
Definitely one of my top 5 movies…I also have to read the book.
You know I adore both of you and support you in your spiritual aspirations. I want to remind you of that because I don’t want you to take my comment on this story (Chris McCandless’) as any sort of personal slight.
I first heard about his trip in the context of a segment on a TV news magazine show, perhaps 20/20, or maybe 60 Minutes. It was quite a while ago. I was moved by the first bit, the idea of a young man seeking out adventure. I had an uncle who was also attracted by Alaska and spent a year there after high school, learning to be a man. His whole life was affected by his experiences there. I approve of the general idea.
The PROBLEM (*sigh* I hate what follows) is that McCandless might be more a warning to inexperienced, spoiled children of affluence than a story to inspire emulation.
I say this because the outcome for him was what he did NOT intend, clearly what he hoped would not happen. It is being used as an anecdote by forest ranger types to DIScourage adventureseeking.
The Earth is our home but it is not a cuddly, cozy neighbor who might make allowances for kind intentions.
Beautiful book/movie but not a guidebook to enlightenment, not by a long shot. We must think more of human life than what this guy did, IMHO.