03/06/08: I have mixed feelings.

I haven't read Krakauer's book, but as the movie portrayed him, McCandless was idealistic yet naive, generous yet insensitive. You wanted to see him succeed in his quest - and he got far by stopping to work and save money every so often (both for the experience and for food money) - but ultimately he made a few critical mistakes towards the end that cost him. I wanted to know more about his strained relationship with mom and dad back home, but I get it that he felt that they weren't in love anymore, and that he didn't want to be around that sort of negative energy, especially when it turned into spousal abuse.

Whatever you think about the character of McCandless, Into the Wild remains my favorite film from 2007 because it was clearly so lovingly shot and put together. It was 2.5 hours long but it never dragged; it got better as it went along and if anything, I wanted it to go on longer (and supposedly there's another 2 hours of deleted footage that Penn left out of the final film). Emile Hirsch gave a terrific performance that lets you see that the kid is young and adventurous but also selfish and a bit of an asshole. The sequence with Hal Holbrook, playing an old man in (I think) Arizona who takes in McCandless part-way along his journey, is both heartbreaking and wonderful.

HS

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