Originally written for hobby blog 29 June 2018
In my review of the memoir this movie is based off of, I mention that there were two initial reactions from people hearing about McCandless’ story: disdain or admiration. While I can’t speak for the cast and crew’s personal thoughts, the movie on a whole seems to show admiration and respect for McCandless’ journey. In reading the book, I found myself angered and upset at McCandless and the needless loss of life, while watching the movie, I felt I was going on a jaunt with an eccentric who passed away due to fate or accident.
In adaption, it is foolish to expect exact recreations. Prose and film are different mediums with different strengths and weaknesses. Parts being added, parts taken out, and parts reshuffled should be expected to some extent. However, these are stories based on actual people, so I feel a certain amount of respect needs to be taken by the filmmakers. In watching the credits roll by as I finished watching this movie, I noted that this movie had been given the seal of approval by not only Krakauer, but McCandless’ family and friends as well. If I had been a family member, there are certain things I would have taken umbrage with.
In the memoir, it is clear that Christopher had a strained relationship with his parents. Stress, mentions of divorce and downright violence come to represent Mr. and Mrs. McCandless, a far cry from the overly materialistic, overworked, maybe sometimes neglectful parents portrayed in the memoir. It’s hard to say which of these are more accurate to life, but I know I wouldn’t appreciate my family being portrayed that way if it was untrue.
Two other major changes that were made immediately apparent is that Carine (McCandless’ younger sister) becomes the narrator rather than Krakauer. This makes narrative sense as having a sister talk about her brother’s life seems more fitting than some journalist not personally connected to him, but in watching the movie, Carine feels like nothing more than the narrator. We don’t get to hear about her feelings about what happened. In the memoir, there is a chapter dedicated to her finding out about McCandless’ death, and it is heartbreaking. We don’t get that in the movie. On the subject of McCandless’ death, in the movie it is only faintly alluded to rather than outright stated in the beginning. The first scene of the movie is of McCandless’ mother jerking up in bed and crying in a bout of foreshadowing before cutting to McCandless trying to hitch a ride.
As far as differences between the book and movie go, the major one is that the book takes the absolute facts of the situation and lays it bare while everything else, from where McCandless was for some stretches of the journey, his true motivations, to the actual way he died is left ambiguous. Sure, Krakauer conjectures and makes assumptions, but he mostly sticks to his journalistic roots, giving times and dates and includes quotes McCandless underlined in books to show the when, where and why of his journey. The movie speaks more in absolutes with Carine often saying things along the lines of “Chris thought X” or “he believed y,” something she nor anyone else had a way of truly knowing.
More time is given to Chris’ encounters with people along his journey in the movie than to Chris’ personal philosophies and backstory as in the book. This makes Chris seem less like a know-it-all snob and more like a wise eccentric. Again, it’s hard to say which is more the truth. In the book, Chris struck me as a little insufferable with his philosophizing, but in the end, he was at best a little naïve and at worst, arrogant in his undertakings. Krakauer uses the words “intelligent” and “charismatic” frequently to describe him the books. Even given McCandless’ extraordinary pursuit, the book made me picture more of an university undergrad going on a hard-core gap year adventure rather than an eccentric and wise hobo. Emile Hirsch (the actor who plays McCandless in the film) gives the bare-bones of what we’re given of Christopher in the book and gives him a fresh coat of paint. Hirsch has a big role to fill, considering he has to carry a large chunk of the film himself. In the many times it is only Hirsch on screen, he often talks to himself to move the plot and McCandless’ characterization forward, but also makes McCandless seem a little more nutty than I originally imagined. Again, having never known McCandless other than from the film or book, it’s hard to say which is more accurate. Overall, I did enjoy watching Hirsch. He made McCandless a likable character, both portraying intelligence and charisma without making McCandless seem sanctimonious as I felt he came off in the book.
The relationships McCandless forms along the journey are what really make this film for me. When I originally watched this film, the names Vince Vaughn, Zach Galifianakis, and Kristen Stewart were not as well known to me, and the roles they portray here are very different for what they became known for. Well, Stewart’s role as Tracy is in a similar vein to how to Bella Swan is portrayed in Twilight, but it works here in showing a naïve, awkward girl falling in love for the first time with a guy who is on a journey that won’t include her. A fun fact is that Jim Gallien (the last person to see Chris alive) and Leonard Knight (caretaker of Salvation Mountain) are played by themselves.
The most notable of the characters Chris runs into are Catherine Keener’s Ja, Brian H. Dierker’s Rainey and Hal Holbrook’s Ron Franz. Jan and Rainey are a couple of hippie rubber tramps (tramps with wheels as compared to leather tramps like McCandless) that McCanless runs into more than once on his journey, and he bonds closely with them, particularly Jan. Jan and Rainey act like surrogate parents, with Jan repeatedly reminding Chris he should be contacting his mom and dad. If portrayed wrong, I could imagine Jan could come off as a nag, but she doesn’t here. Mostly though body language, you see she cares deeply for Chris’ safety. When they part for the last time, Jan refuses to hug him, but still helps him on his journey as much as she worried about him.
Holbrook as Ron Franz definitely deserves a special mention. Even though he has a relatively short time on screen, he managed to earn an academy award and a Screen Actor’s Guild Award nomination. Franz is an older gentleman who lives alone and is contented with his home and life before McCandless enters it. They form a close bond, Franz learning to live a little in the moment from McCandless. They become so close that Franz offers to officially adopt him. McCandless only answers they can discuss it when he gets back before he leaves to continue his journey to Alaska. It’s a heart wrenching scene, even without the knowledge that McCandless will never return. In the novel we learn just how much Franz was affected by McCandless. Franz leaves his old life and ways behind to take up tramping in the hopes of finding Chris.
The cinematographer definitely loved to caress the American landscape, and not just in nature or rural settings. There are a lot of scenes of cars driving and trains moving as well. Angles that I don’t see very often are employed, making some unusual and interesting shots. The moments that took me really by surprise was when Hirsch looked directly at the camera, breaking the fourth wall on occasion. This gave the film a slightly voyeuristic feel, or like Hirsch invented vlogging years before it existed. This could be alluding to the fact that McCandless took pictures along his trip.
Of course, I now have to talk about McCandless’ death, because the memoir may have never happened if not for it, as cynical as that sounds. The film chooses to have McCandless pass because of mistakenly eating poisonous plants, but this was only suggested in the memoir. We really see Hirsch as McCandless suffer in his final moments, as he imagines himself returning home to his parents before the camera pans up into the sky. While much of the memoir was focused on McCandless’ philosophy of simple living and seeking out solitude, the film adaptation focuses more on themes of family and bonding. While I would have liked to see more of the scenes that took place in the aftermath of Chris’ death, seeing how they portrayed the McCandless family and his friends reacting to the news as is shared in the book, ending on Chris’ death and the realization that family is something he wanted all along creates effective closure, even if possibly not accurate to McCandless’ real life thoughts.
Sean Penn’s Into the Wild may take what is ambiguous and make it absolute, but with heartbreaking performances by a sturdy cast and fresh cinematography, the film is emotionally moving. It’s not a film you’ll watch for a happy fun-time, but you’ll certainly appreciate the artistry.
Some Quick Stats
Directed by: Sean Penn
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Stewart, and Hal Holbrook to name a few.
Distributed by: Paramount Vantage
Released: September 21st, 2017, 20 years after the book