Into the Wild

[The Rossness]

Excellent film. Gets my vote for movie of the year.

[willb3500]

definately agree, i had to drive about an hour to go see it, and it was well worth it to, Great book as well, i read it a couple weeks before the movie came out.

ps: good soundtrack to

[cearleywine]

I liked the movie over all. I'll have to say there was some odd directing decisions especially when the lead acknowledged the camera in one scene. But I like the message behind the film and it definitely leaves you thinking.

[rachelraylubsme]

yep.

[mewithoutlouie]

loved it, emile is great in this, i can't wait for speed racer!

[AL Guitar]

Great movie- even better book.

[bdemon]

I agree, great film. Still, you do a little reading on the dude and you realize the film romanticized him a great deal. Supposedly there was a trolley that could have taken him across the flooded river and it was only something like five miles away. If he'd gone in with a map and a compass--and knew how to use them--he probably wouldn't have been trapped "in the wild". And I think I read experts examined the area and didn't find any of the poisonous seeds he ate in the film, though it's possible he'd eaten some contaminated with a fungus.

Can't remember the specifics, but it confirmed that he was quite an idealist, though not very smart.

[Folky_Grunge]

I really like the movie.

I think all McCandless haters should read the book. It does a good job of explaining how he wasn't an idiot. He did things (like not taking a map) very deliberately and he knew what he was doing.

[iago]

I've now read the book and seen the movie.

I think I figured it out. This should have been done like Five Easy Pieces. There are real parallels between McCandless and Bobby Duprea--both are talented young men from privaleged but broken families, both turn angry and by extension develop anger towards society as a whole and seek an escape by heading north.

But Krakauer and Penn's willingness to take McCandless's idealized rationalizations at face value make for a weaker and less tragic story.

[ulankfan]

Waste of time about a wasted life and a waste of sperm...nice cinematogrophy though.

[iago]

Waste of time about a wasted life and a waste of sperm...nice cinematogrophy though.

Maybe that's what I meant.

You're a fan of Ulank? But you're not Ulank?

[StratoSlacker]

I really like the movie.

I think all McCandless haters should read the book. It does a good job of explaining how he wasn't an idiot. He did things (like not taking a map) very deliberately and he knew what he was doing.

Don't think I've posted in here before. Hi everyone.

I haven't read the book yet so maybe I'm missing a thing or two or a hundred. I got zero impression that he knew what he was doing.

I got the impression from the movie that the kid was very naive, stupid, and/or suicidal. Two actions suggested it to me...braving the rapids in the Colorado River with zero knowledge on what to do or what to expect and deliberately entering the wild with no map, no plan, and little to know preparation or equipment.

I lean towards suicidal because he had enough education to know better.

Did he know that bus would be there? If not, I think he either would have died from exposure (no shelter, no stove) very quickly or he would have given up and made his way back towards civilization.

I guess I should read the book before passing any more judgement on the guy, but as someone who has done lots of hiking and extended camping in remote wilderness areas, I found myself pondering "either this guy is a shit head or he wants to die".

[iago]

My impression from the book was not that he was suicidal, just overconfident. He was a very smart, very young, very rich kid who may have thought he was invincible.

[Folky_Grunge]

I don't think he was suicidal or overconfident (well, maybe a little overconfident). I do think he was very impulsive, though. And once he got the idea to do something, he couldn't get it out of his head.