"Children, gather round! No retreat, no surrender; that is Spartan law," as said by the mighty Spartan, King Leonidas, encourages us to gather round and listen. So it is in your best interest to do so. The rest of the quote really has nothing to do with this article. Listen to what? Well, there is a movie on Netflix that idly rests on its shelf of microscopic 1's and 0's while you binge watch the final couple seasons of "Gilmore Girls," or continue watching all the movies you've fallen asleep during. This is a movie that I think definitely deserves a look into. Its story is unlike most that have been seen, and resonates with, what I believe, most feel deep down.
Too many films readily available to wide audiences fall short of providing more than gratuitous entertainment, abrogating the audience with little or no impact on the every-man's (or woman's) own lives. Instead of showing us the world, we are shown a world. Few movies like "Schindler's List" or "The Passion of Christ" actually invite us to an experience. In a time where larger than life superheroes and robots take stab after stab at teaching us lessons on the iridescent screen, it has gotten easy to loose touch with the fact that our most resilient lessons come from people.
Enter a film called "Into the Wild" (seriously, go put it on your queue). "Into the Wild" is based off a book of the same name written by Jon Krakauer, which is based off of the life of Christopher McCandless AKA Alexander Supertramp. The movie is written and directed by Oscar winning actor Sean Penn, assisted by a haunting original soundtrack by Pearl Jam front-man Eddie Vedder. Chris McCandless grew up in the 80s and early 90s. He lived a relatively normal early life in suburban Annandale, Virginia. He excelled as a student and a cross country athlete in high school, and went on to attend the esteemed Emory University where he continued a legacy of societal exceptional-ism.
Let's recap. We have a suburban kid who has done well in two prime aspects of high school and went on to a good college. Seems typical, right? This is where the path of normalcy is strayed from, and eventually lost on account of the overgrowth and foliage. After graduating in 1990, McCandless denounces contemporary society, disavows his family name, gives the 24,000 dollars in his savings to the poverty relief group Oxfam, abandoned his car in a desert, burned all the cash in his wallet, and hitchhiked from Georgia to the Western frontier of America, South to the coast of Mexico, then North to Alaska. There, after earning himself a cornucopia of stories to tell and a wide assortment of people to share them with (played by an ensemble cast of Kristen Stewart, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook, Jena Malone, and Zach Galifianakis) he walked into the wilderness of Alaska for one final journey to find himself.
This story (if you find what was previously described as enticing) tells the true tale of a man whose questions of societal boundary inspires him to go out and live a nomadic life many of us only flirt with the concept of. It sets itself apart as a film, as it shows the risks and rewards of living in nature in a many of us can only ever want for ourselves, never grasp. "Into the Wild" often puts us, the viewer, in the place of the lead character as we see the beauty of the life the adventurer in us all yearn for. Therefore, it transcends (no pun intended) the definition of film and is capable of becoming a rather thought provoking experience. For any person, young or old, "Into the Wild" is one of those must-see movies.
On a side note, I felt the film was best watched by being broken down into three parts based off of when I felt a break was needed, as there is a lot of story and depth covered. So if you've read this far, check out the movie! It's on Netflix!
