Toronto - Alaska. The final frontier. For hobos. If you’ve ever wanted to leave the world behind, leave all the social pressures, all the materialism and trappings of the world and live out on your own and be free and happy.. Do not. I Repeat. Do Not. Go to Alaska and be all on your own. You will die. This is the conclusion I have made after watching Sean Penn’s Into The Wild. I also saw Grizzly Man last year and that person also went to Alaskan and he was eaten by a frickin bear. What are the odds? Anyways, if two movies say going to Alaska and living on your own will equate to death, thats good enough for me. Want to be a recluse? go to a tropical island. Tom Hanks made it out alive, if he can do it, then you can too.

On to the movie. Into The Wild was directed by Sean Penn and is based on the book by the same name, by some other dude. It follows the last two years in the life of Christopher McCandless. Chris decided upon graduation that he didn’t want to live in the world that his parents had created for him and that he wanted to be free of all it’s trappings and stuff. Hippy stuff. So off he goes, without a word to his parents and his sister (slightly rude). Before he does this, he brings along a few books and donates his life savings to Oxfam. His eventual goal is to make it to Alaska. Along the way, he travels to many places and meets and touches (in a platonic/emotional way) many people.

This movie is bloody fantastic. I mean, all it is, is just some dude who travels across america and meets these people and has a good time, but I dunno its just done real well. The acting is superb all around, Emile Hirsh did a wonderful job playing the dude and he convinces you why he must go to Alaska, and you feel bad for his character when he meets his fate, despite the path of emotional destruction he leaves behind. The supporting cast is solid - william hurt, catherine keener, vince vaughn and some other peeps (including an old guy who is nominated for an acting oscar). All are good. The cinematography is fantastic and it’ll make you wanna do one of those infamous cross country tours. The Grand Canyon, Alaska, California..hell, they even make South Dakota look nice. The music score is done by Eddie Vedder so it’s good for what it is.

I highly recommend this movie. Here is a song off the album.

 

 Eddie Vedder - Hard Sun [5:22m]: Play Now