Book to Film Review: Into The Wild

About the book

Into the wild was released in 2007 and is 148 minutes long. Into the wild is based on the book by Jon Krakauer. It is rated 15 due to some nudity and language. It was originally released to a select amount of theatres but after the amazing reviews, it went on to have a wide release and was nominated for a lot of awards.

Plot

Into The Wild tells the story of Christopher McCandless and his true story (although how true the film made it, I don't know). Christopher has just graduated from a good university and has everything going for him. His parents are very financially stable and want the very best for their son. As Christopher looks around him, he realises that this isn't the life that he wants and decides that he is entitles to his own form of freedom. He destroys everything that is used as I.D...credit cards, driver’s license and I.D card as well as donating all of his savings. The only thing he keeps is his car and a bag of clothes.

Christopher leaves his entire family, not telling them where he is going to pursue his dream of getting to Alaska to live in the wild. He drives so far but leaves his car so that he cannot be traced and continues on foot, taking on the name, Alexander Supertramp. Along the way, Christopher meets a variety of people who all live in some kind of way that he respects and desires. As his journey to Alaska continues, he finds it quite hard and emotional at times but doesn't want to rely on his new found friends. His family are really worried as he doesn't let them know where he is or how he is doing but he is determined to live out his dreams.

What I thought

The film flits from Christopher on his journey and back to his family, giving the audience the full effect of what he did. The main themes are escapism and freedom and they are wonderfully portrayed. How many times have we all dreamt about where we would like to go or see and Christopher McCandless was someone who had enough courage and determination to follow his dreams. Everything he does before his trip adds to the emotion behind his decision.

Each part of the story ends up having a huge impact on his life and the other decisions that he makes. Each separate character that he encounters plats a big part in his life even the ones that he knows only for a few days. The range of characters and personalities are truly incredible and easy to connect with. I thought their individual parts were almost as good as the main story. To be more specific, Kristen Stewart (Now famous for the Twilight Saga) and Vince Vaughn were outstanding and this was a film that showed their diversity and talent.

Emile Hirsch needs some huge praise for this role and he brings so much talent, passion and emotion to Christopher's life and he was the perfect choice for the role. It must have been hard to play someone in a true story because I'm sure that he did everything he could to make the family proud. Hirsch made this character extremely believable. When you watch the film, you will realise that he also had to go through some drastic changes throughout like losing a lot of weight to fit the story.

The cinematography throughout his film is some of the most breath taking that I have ever seen. If you thought House of flying daggers was amazing then I'm sure you will like this one for the same reason. Christopher's journey shows us so much of America that isn't on any tourist route. The scenery is beautiful and after watching this, it was hard to disagree with his decision, even though it didn't have a nice ending. When he finally gets to Alaska, you realise that his journey had to be worth all of the hard work and pain.

The film is a but long for most people that I know who have seen it but I don't think the story would have been done as brilliantly any other way. This is a very emotional film but worth taking the time to sit down and enjoy it.