SOUNDWAVES CINEMA: Into the Wild TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgcolor=black background="Starbak.gif" link=gold vlink=gold > <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=100% > <tr> <td width=100 height=0 valign=top> </td> <STYLE TYPE="text/css">  </STYLE> <font color=white> <font color=gold> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TD WIDTH="700" > <FONT SIZE="-1"> <IMG SRC="Images/IntoTheWild-Poster.jpg" BORDER=0 ALT=""> <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2LAuzT_x8Ek"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2LAuzT_x8Ek" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> </TD> <TD WIDTH="15" > </TD> <TD WIDTH="350"> </b> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR VALIGN="top"> <TD WIDTH="600"> <font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <font color=OOEOOO> <BR> <b> <font face="Helvetica" size="-1"> <font color=OOEOOO> CAST: <font color=FFFFCC> Emile Hirsch (Christopher McCandless), Marcia Gay Harden (Billie McCandless), William Hurt (Walt McCandless), Hal Holbrook (Ron Franz), Catherine Keener (Jan Burres), Jena Malone (Carine McCandless), Kristen Stewart (Tracy), Vince Vaughn (Wayne Westerberg), and Brian Dieker (Rainey) </font> <br>SCR: <font color=FFFFCC> Sean Penn </font> <br>DIR: <font color=FFFFCC> Sean Penn </font> <br>STUDIO: <font color=FFFFCC> Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment </font> <br>MPAA: <font color=FFFFCC> R for sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language and drug use</font> <br>RUNNING TIME:<font color=FFFFCC> 153 min.</font> <br>OFFICIAL SITE: <A HREF="http://www.intothewild.com/"> <font color=FFFFCC>intothewild.com</font></A> <br> <br></b> </b></b> <font color=white> <font face="Helvetica" size="-1"> <br> Into the Wild is the true story of Christopher McCandless, a 23-year-old who graduated from college, donated the remainder of his college fund ($24,000) to OXFAM, hit the road, estranged himself from his family, abandoned his car, and burned all his cash. He traveled around the U.S. as a “leather tramp” for a couple of years before heading to Alaska to walk into the wild, where he planned to live off the land in the remote bush. Is this a story of a brave adventurer, who shed the shackles of family and materialism and embarked on a quest, hoping to achieve enlightenment by challenging himself physically, mentally and emotionally? Or is it a story of a spoiled, stubborn rich kid who mercilessly cut all ties with his heartbroken family, abdicated all responsibility, and set off on a reckless, selfish road trip? <BR><BR> It doesn't take long to figure out which side writer and director Sean Penn is on. The early scenes with McCandless's parents (played by Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) paint a very unsympathetic picture. Penn focuses unrelentingly on his mother's fearful, darting eyes and nervous smiles, his father's mouth sagging in perpetual disapproval, the gap between parents and son widening as we watch. Penn gradually humanizes the parents as they cope with the voluntary disappearance of their only son, but overall it is a pretty harsh portrayal. Jena Malone, as McCandless's sister Carine, ably narrates the story in a voice that manages to be emotionally engaging and detached at the same time. <BR><BR> Emile Hirsch , as McCandless, is believable, passionate, almost magnetic. It is a difficult role, both physically and dramatically, but Hirsch rises to the challenge admirably. One suspects the real McCandless probably wasn't quite so charming, and a lot more angry and unforgiving. Penn veers dangerously close to Buddha territory at times, as McCandless seems to inspire, educate, or enlighten nearly everyone he comes into contact with, but manages to pull back before it truly harms the story. <BR><BR> Hal Holbrook is so perfect in the role of the lonely widower whose horizons are expanded upon crossing paths with McCandless that the Academy should just give the man a best supporting actor Oscar and be done with it. Catherine Keener is excellent as a holdover hippy chick with a laconic drawl, both wisdom and sadness evident in her smile. Vince Vaughn is commendable as McCandless's boss, but while Keener disappears into her role completely, it is impossible to watch Vaughn and not know, on some level, that you are watching Vince Vaughn. <BR><BR> One could accuse Penn of romanticizing the story, filling it to the brim with shots of sun-dappled fields, majestic snow-capped vistas, vast deserts baking under a glittering sun, deer grazing in a grassy dell. Yet, at its heart, Into the Wild is a romantic story: the legend of the young man who gives up everything to Go West. It's easy to judge McCandless as a privileged youth who wandered into the forest with just a backpack and a gun, unprepared and clueless. However, it's just as easy to turn it around and regard him as a true adventurer, committed to his dream, a rare iconoclast in an age of comfort and convenience. Or perhaps he was both. These dichotomies are exactly what make Into the Wild such a fascinating story. <BR><BR> The manner in which Penn tells the tale also adds to its intrigue. He uses a mix of voice-over narration, subtitles, and long shots of McCandless appearing dwarfed by nature, zooming into extreme, unexpected close-ups. The film jumps back and forth through time and locations, and is divided into sections (i.e., Birth, Adolescence, Becoming a Man, etc.). It is a jumble of concepts that easily could have turned into a huge mess, but Penn pulls it off. <BR><BR> Penn can't resist adding a semi-love interest, but overall the film sticks surprisingly close the book by John Krakauer. Some of the relationships are expanded, and some of the hazards McCandless encounters on the road are exaggerated for dramatic effect. The end result is a sprawling story that takes its time poking into the nooks and crannies of a complicated young man. Although the film meanders, and Penn lingers a little too long on some scenes (most notably when McCandless visits a drop-out desert encampment in the last third of the movie), the outcome of such a slow, winding ride is that the audience feels like they really know the protagonist, so when his fortunes turn, it hurts. This is an achievement for both Penn and Hirsch. <BR><BR> In the end, Into the Wild is like a poem, filled with imagery, wilderness, beauty, and truth. And like a poem, it has the ability to haunt one for days afterwards. The final scenes are triumphant, heartwrenching, beautiful, tragic; hard to watch, and yet impossible not to. It is filmmaking at its most powerful, filmmaking at its best. <br> <br> <b> --reviewed by <A HREF="http://www.soundwavescinema.com/Cinema/WriterSearch.htm#Cari"><font color=white>CARI PHILLIPS</font></A> <br> <b> <br> <br> </B> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </BODY> </HTML>