Into the Wild: The Sean Ward Review
July 16th, 2009

chris_mccandless

As you saw in recent posts, I was visiting with my buddy Dwayne (drummer for Wildlife) this weekend. While I was there, he asked me if I had seen a film called Into the Wild. I hadn’t even heard of it. Dwayne was very insistent that I take his copy of the DVD home with me and now, moments after it’s ended, I have to wonder if he just thought it was a good movie that I might like or if he knew that he was handing me a mirror.

Into the Wild tells the true life story of Chris McCandless who, right after graduating from university in 1990, set out on a two-year spiritual journey that took him west to California, south to Mexico, and finally north to Alaska where he would pit himself against nature.  He didn’t tell anyone he was going.  He didn’t even take a map or compass.  He destroyed his ID, donated the remainder of his college fund to Oxfam, abandoned his car, and split.

I was left in a very emotional state when the movie was over because the exact same youthful exuberance and yearning for experience & adventure that led Chris to Alaska was the same as what made me quit my job to go be an artist and sell comic books on the street.  I spent the whole movie waiting for the triumphant ending that would reaffirm my belief in ‘buying the ticket and taking the ride’, to paraphrase Dr. Thompson.  I was wholly unprepared for it when it was revealed to have been a true-life cautionary tale, with a photograph of the real Chris McCandless (a self-portrait left undeveloped inside his camera amongst his belongings in his make-shift Alaskan home) the final image of the movie.

A movie couldn’t be as intense as this based on the subject matter alone.  It’s the treatment of the subject matter that is everything.  And in Into the Wild, screenwriter/director Sean Penn has crafted one of the most beautiful, poetic, and graceful movies I have ever seen.  Whether it’s the sweeping grace of the start of Chris’ journey or the jarring unease as his fate slowly reveals itself to him, this movie completely nails the feel of every stage of the journey.  It’s so good because you can tell that Sean Penn was as affected and moved by McCandless’ story as I was, and inspired to do it justice.

One of the most skillful things to have pulled off was to make it so that this is not a sad movie.  This is an inspirational movie.  I want people who see this movie to think about what’s deep down in young men that drives them to want to abandon the world around them and uncover something that’s never been seen before.  Chris did it by going to Alaska.  Other people have done it by becoming writers, starting businesses, or finding a cause worth fighting for.  I hope that you’ll do it your way.

“There’s what you think and then there’s reality” -a wise woman once told me this.

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  • eggtoss
    I'm lovin this. Graham just showed me the posting and i had to read it. Graham was lovin it too. Chris McC changed the way i viewed life in a real way. I'm glad you took the time to watch the movie Sean, and to answer your thought, no i didn't just think it was a "good" movie. I had a feeling you'd really appreciate it. There's two type of people in the world. The sayers and the doers. Sean you're definitely a doer and you inspire everyone around you. See you soon brotha!
  • That is wonderful of you to say, homey! Thank you so much.
  • I have not seen this movie, and will now, but can completely relate to the struggles one faces in society. I made a similar yet not so drastic move and left behind an entire life I had accumulated in search for meaning in the simplicity of it all. It was very challenging I will not lie. I thought that by removing myself from society and its reality, my life would make sense. It did for a short time, but like the statement "Happiness is Shared" - we are part of something for a reason.

    Change comes from within and the best thing you can do is to be yourself and to live in joy, whatever that means for you. That WILL impact the whole more profoundly than anything else.
  • Yeah, I like what you're saying. Me being an Artist, I see everything through that lens. The world is my medium, and life is my work of art. If we're aware and conscious of not only the fact that everything we do has an effect on the world, but everything I take part in or that happens to me colors my experience, influences my decisions, and then comes out as affecting the world through me. That's why it's important to not be passive about it, and the "aw, damn it all!" cop out is a passive stance, no better or more constructive than blindly buying in.
  • Yes! I know this movie and my mom was a big fan of the book when it came out.

    Look for a Sundance produced series called "Iconoclasts" with the episode featuring Sean Penn and the writer of the book. They take the trip up to Chris' bus house, and camp there for the night.

    That's truly a great way to look at it, Sean. To look within yourself and take it to the outermost limit! It's defiantly the sort of thing I'm thinking a lot about right now
  • There's a piece of the puzzle that I didn't think about in time to include it in the review, but there's a part in the movie, very close to the end, where he writes in his book "Happiness is Shared". He goes on his journey to get away from the rusty, broken machine that is civilization. He thinks that all of society is bullshit and the solution is to abandon it. But when he realizes that "Happiness is Shared", he realizes that society is simply everybody doing the best we can to share happiness. I got away from that anti-consumerism, anti-corporate, Adbusters mode of thinking because the logical conclusion of all of that is to stand gloating while the whole world burns down. Once we, like Chris, realize that "Happiness is Shared", we can start to try to change society from within it to be an even better reflection of that ideal.
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