THEME: Freedom, self-discovery, and the search for meaning in life.
DIRECTOR: Sean Penn.
WRITER: Sean Penn (based on the book by Jon Krakauer)
MAIN CAST: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener.
Intro The Wild
Some stories are not just told — they are lived, with every step echoing in the wild silence of nature. Into the Wild is one such journey. Based on a true story, it follows Christopher McCandless, a young man who walks away from comfort, wealth, and expectations, chasing a life unchained. He burns his maps, leaves behind his name, and sets out into the raw heart of America — deserts, rivers, mountains, and finally, Alaska.
Every encounter he has feels like a chapter in a soul’s diary. The cinematography kind of feels like a vlog on YouTube or recorded with a Camcorder with the zoom-in & out effects. It feels pretty close to our soul. The story makes you ask: What does it mean to truly live? And in that question lies its magic — simple, powerful, unforgettable. I would like to add some of my own thoughts and points I've found while watching this masterpiece.
Deep Into The Wild
A Desire We All Hold, But Never Show
Most of us live by the same desire that Alex had. He showed us a life we all wanted to have. Do we? A life without taxes or government issues, a life without worrying about money, a life without clinging to material stuff like cars or a house, a life into the wild.
According to Alex, life should be like some free pages written in it, not like a bound book. There should be no limit in this world, no racism, no politics, only some wild animals living in their own. Free. Happy. We are handcuffed to society, a hypocritical society. Alex wanted to break through, and he did. Then he learned things he could never understand in his leather-seated new car that his father was about to buy after graduation. Or in that house that never became a home to him.
A Rebel Against Comfort
What makes someone walk away from everything society tells us to treasure? Money, a career, family expectations, a stable future — all the things we’re taught to chase like oxygen. Yet, Into the Wild introduces us to Christopher McCandless, a young man who looked at all of it and said, No. Not for me. His rebellion wasn’t loud, it wasn’t violent, it wasn’t even political.
It was quiet — the kind of rebellion that comes from turning your back on comfort and stepping into the unknown with nothing but a backpack and conviction. Chris wasn’t running toward chaos; he was running away from cages. The cage of his parents’ broken marriage. The cage of materialism and hollow success. The cage of a world that wanted to mould him into something he didn’t believe in. So, he burned his money, abandoned his car, and stripped away the safety nets. For most of us, comfort is survival. For him, comfort was an uncertain adventure and being alive in the moment.
A Piece of Lather that Measures Life
Did you notice Alex's belt? You didn't! Or you did! Well, that piece of leather has a special storytelling character in it. We can see his belt in every stage of his journey. The journey was criss-crossed. When his life got a bit harder on his own, his body got weak, and he had to slide the hook to shorten the belt.
After the spring arrived, he came out of his cave like a wild bear with an empty stomach. In summer, his body got food, so he had to hook his belt wider. Later, things got worse; he even had to make some holes in that belt so that it could be hooked to his skinny body. That belt represents his journey through his ups and downs. And guess what, in a part where he learn leather designing, he crafted his whole journey in his belt. I mean, everyone noticed this part, I would say.
Even the Pig, Hen and the Rabbit had the dream to live outside the farmhouse. But when they finally got outside, they saw the true colour of nature. One couldn't find food, one became food, and the last one got hunted by some wild animal. Alex experienced the same in his wild adventure. First, the civilisation gave him a little struggle, from the government and beaten up by the Police.
Then nature showed the duality of it. Salvation and Punishment - Nurturing and Unforgiving. He starved, tried to hunt, sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he failed to process the food, and a river crossed his path to stop his journey. Winter came with the struggles, and the spring brought back his strength and mass. The warmth. The more he struggled, the more he learn about the world. The true brutal world. The only thing he wanted, instead of all the things his parents wanted to give him, was the Truth.
Happiness isn't a Myth
We saw Alex meeting some people on his journey, falling in love with a girl, and having a Grandpa too!!
He might say that "Don't try to find happiness in relationships; the real happiness is out there, in the mountains, rivers, jungles, into the wild." In some cases, he is right. Finding meaning in life in this loud world is too tough to do. After being raised by a parent like his, his thoughts fit well in his mouth. But even after meeting some really good people in his life, he left them all behind to find real happiness. Later, he understood that solitude is not the key to happiness. Staying alone and being lonely are different things.
The wisdom finally hits his mind, and then he wrote in his diary, "Happiness is only real when shared". Because it never was about the mountains, rivers, or Alaska. It was the people he met on his journey who made him happy. It's always the people. It's not the brick that fell down. It was the people in it that made him leave his home. It's not the journey, it's the people, it's not the places, it's the people. It's all about your loved ones. On your deathbed, you wouldn't want your medals, money or the achievements of your whole life. The only thing you would want to see is your people, your family, lying there, surrounded by them. And then you would leave your last breath, but Alex did not have that peace when he left his. He was in pain, not because of his illness but because of his loneliness.
Few More Thoughts
Christopher McCandless is a real-life character. In his short life journey of just 24 years, what was his actual contribution to the world then? What was his actual rebel about? Was he just a delusional person with some logicless ideas of lifestyle in the middle of nowhere? Well, I think not.
He might not end up well, even though I think I cannot blame him totally. Once we knew how to deal with herbs and make medicines. Now we are incapable of it. We are too dependent on medicines. The capitalists are making us work like machines. So we don't have time to know about herbs now. Capitalists are making medicines for us. We are working for them as well, so that we can buy it. We are living in a lifestyle we don't desire. "The 20th century invented the Career, for us", that's what Alex said. We can never disagree with him. He might die most harshly, but how we are living right now is worse than that. So who won? I don't know. But Alex really did something no one ever did. Did he really die? People die when we let them.
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