Reviewing Movies

He may not have seen it that way but Chris McCandless was one lucky guy. His homelife may not have been stable but financially he lacked for nothing. Rather than coast through life he threw it all away—he literally donates his fortune to charity and burns the cash in his pockets, takes an assumed name, and goes walk-about. Mind you he starts out in his old second-hand car but parks it one night in a flash flood area and is awakened when a flood of water washes it away. Again he was lucky his adventure didn’t end right there. The story comes to a tragic end when his luck finally runs out. It is Chris’ lack of local knowledge that is his downfall in the end. He has no familiarity with animal migration or the fact that it occurs seasonally when insects make certain areas unlivable nor did he know that the small stream he crossed to get to his “Magic Bus” would become a raging torrent once the glacial melt waters from higher altitudes reached downstream watercourses. He dies of starvation when the food runs out and he can’t make it back to civilization. I give nothing away here as it’s all in Jon Krakauer’s book upon which this movie is based.

The importance of a stable loving family experience to ground a person is rarely so graphically illustrated. Rather than take the money and run as some people would have done; Chris is unable to cope with his inner denoms and throws away a potentially lucrative career in law to live a rootless vagabond existence. Rejecting his parent’s expectations he leaves home and makes no further contact with his family. His parent’s who have been too wrapped up in their own affairs to recognize the hurt in their son’s life suddenly, out of guilt or remorse, become obsessed with finding their wayward boy. The commentary supplied here by his sister tracks the origins of Chris’ rootless existence. The fact that he first ran away from home, mind you only 4 blocks, at four; that he spent his summer vacations hitch-hiking across America; and went on major cross continent treks during his college years. In the end the fact that others love you means nothing if you cannot love yourself and life has no meaning if you cannot find it. Happiness is unattainable if you cannot share your joys with others.

Emile Hirsch does a credible job of portraying Chris here. He’s an ordinary guy with whom an audience can identify. The list of filming locations occupies an entire page and ranges across the North American continent giving us countless panoramic views from mountain tops and the valleys below. Although the movie is narrated from Chris’ Sister’s point of view, we are never given an opportunity to meet her or experience first-hand the sense of loss she expresses—the movie is not about her. In the end we are left with a sense of loss—grief at the demise of a lost soul.