Into The Wild

[IGotQuestions]

i've yet to see the movie or read the book, but it seems there's a bigger message in the story than a man fleeing to Alaska. wrong?

 

[ArnoldBabar]

It's really more of a character study than anything. I found the guy interesting, but if that's not enough for you, you might not enoy it.

And Hal Holbrook had damn well better get a supporting actor nomination. He was scrumtrelescent.

 

[Jones]

The book is one of my favorites, and the movie was as good as it could have been, I think -- it's not a match for the book, but it's pretty damn good. And Hirsch and Holbrook really are fantastic. I was thinking Hal is an Oscar lock, and the kid will probably get nominated.

One thing the movie does more powerfully than the book is how well it gets across the pain of McCandless's ultimate end. He must have been really lonely and scared when he zipped up his sleeping bag for the last time.

Another thing -- his parents must have gone through some major reformation afterward. They cooperated with the film, and it makes them appear as ghouls. Maybe they feel like it's their penance.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Nice article from National Geographic Adventure about Penn's quest to get the film made: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/news/into-the-wild.html

 

[funky_mountain]

i'm not sure the movie delivered when it came to mccandless' foolishness. you can still be an idealist/romanticist without being foolish. from the start of his trip into the alaskan wild, he abandoned a basic tenet of going hiking/camping in great open spaces: no one knew who he was or where he was going and no one knew when to expect his return. thus, no one knew when/approx. where to search for him. even when i go fly-fishing in the mountains, i let my wife know what stream i am fishing and what stretch i'm likely to fish. danger lurks in what seem like the mildest of outdoor situations. i saw the subtleties because i am familiar with the story; i'm not sure some wide-eyed teen or college kid will realize how unprepared mccandless was just from seeing the movie.

the ny times and outside also did fine features on penn's quest to get this film made. i don't know the details of the soundtrack, but the first thing i noticed when i started hearing the tunes was the roots-based sound - with the banjo, ukulele and at times what i think is a mandolin.

 

[Dan Rydell]

The original Krakauer article:

http://outside.away.com/magazine/0193/9301fdea.html

What a read that article is.

From the Don't Forget Your Checklist file:

Perhaps inevitably, parallels have been drawn between John Waterman and Chris McCandless. Comparisons have also been made between McCandless and Carl McCunn, a likable, absentminded Texan who in 1981 paid a bush pilot to drop him at a lake deep in the Brooks Range to photograph wildlife. He flew in with 500 rolls of film and 1,400 pounds of provisions but forgot to arrange for the pilot to pick him up again. Nobody realized he was missing until state troopers came across his body a year later, lying beside a 100-page diary that documented his demise. Rather than starve, McCunn had reclined in his tent and shot himself in the head.

Oops. Major gaffe. Fatal flaw.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Outside and Men's Journal both had really good articles on the movie and McCandless...

http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200709/into-the-wild-movie-1.html

http://www.mensjournal.com/feature/M162/M162_TheCultofChrisMcCandless.html

I suspect funky views McCandless much like I do, just one small step away from Timothy Treadway on the Darwinian scale.

 

[westcoastvol]

Funniest movie I've seen since "Wedding Crashers."

 

[93Devil]

Just saw this thanks to Netflix, and I have not read the book.

After sleeping on it (my litmus test for anything I watch), I have to say that it was a beautiful film with some great acting (career-defining-role in Holbrook's case), but I just did not like it.

I have to like a person or a character to enjoy something I watch or read for pleasure, and this film did not deliver that to me.

Supertramp was a very selfish person. Everyone has problems, and he was actually lucky enough to walk away from them if he wanted to by working in Europe or 1,000 miles away from his parents.

The kid obviously needed mental help, and IMHO, was trying to kill himself for a year and a half. It probably would have been easier on his parents and sister (the real victim in all of this) if he would have just ate a gun long before all of this happened.

I have a question though, how was this book written? How did the author get permission to tell this person's life story? Who gave him the rights?

Supertramp was a recluse in life, so why is his life now a public display?

 

[Riddick]

I remember the author actually spoke to McCandliss' family, so I assume they gave him permission. But while I enjoyed the book a lot more, like the movie, I thought so much more could have been done with this story.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Just saw this thanks to Netflix, and I have not read the book.

After sleeping on it (my litmus test for anything I watch), I have to say that it was a beautiful film with some great acting (career-defining-role in Holbrook's case), but I just did not like it.

I have to like a person or a character to enjoy something I watch or read for pleasure, and this film did not deliver that to me.

Supertramp was a very selfish person. Everyone has problems, and he was actually lucky enough to walk away from them if he wanted to by working in Europe or 1,000 miles away from his parents.

I think the movie, through Keener's dialogue, ripped the kid for not having any idea what it is like to have truly awful parents.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I saw this movie last week. My thoughts: Supertramp was Ted Kasczinsky waiting to happen. If he'd survived, it wouldn't be long before he moved to some remote cabin in the middle of nowhere to live off the land. Then some time later start taking out his anger/frustrations on the world at large. I say that because this guy was obviously screwed up something fierce, and he strikes me as the type to do that when he realizes his idea of human utopia will never come to pass.

 

[funky_mountain]

93devil, for the book, i'm not sure krakauer needed permission from anyone or anyone needed to give him the right's to write the book. it helps to have cooperation with the family.

and i disagree with you rusty_shack. while mccandless made several errors and was naive, i don't think he was headed toward kaczynski territory. mccandless, albiet too late, started to figure it out a bit.

 

[93Devil]

93devil, for the book, i'm not sure krakauer needed permission from anyone or anyone needed to give him the right's to write the book. it helps to have cooperation with the family.

and i disagree with you rusty_shack. while mccandless made several errors and was naive, i don't think he was headed toward kaczynski territory. mccandless, albiet too late, started to figure it out a bit.

But he was not a public figure and not breaking the law.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

93devil, for the book, i'm not sure krakauer needed permission from anyone or anyone needed to give him the right's to write the book. it helps to have cooperation with the family.

and i disagree with you rusty_shack. while mccandless made several errors and was naive, i don't think he was headed toward kaczynski territory. mccandless, albiet too late, started to figure it out a bit.

But he was not a public figure and not breaking the law.

Being dead trumps that.

 

[93Devil]

93devil, for the book, i'm not sure krakauer needed permission from anyone or anyone needed to give him the right's to write the book. it helps to have cooperation with the family.

and i disagree with you rusty_shack. while mccandless made several errors and was naive, i don't think he was headed toward kaczynski territory. mccandless, albiet too late, started to figure it out a bit.

But he was not a public figure and not breaking the law.

Being dead trumps that.

So anyone could just choose John Q. Public, let's say a mill worker from Beaver Falls, PA, interview everyone they knew and publish a book about them?

This person's privacy goes away when they die?

 

[Rough Mix]

93devil, for the book, i'm not sure krakauer needed permission from anyone or anyone needed to give him the right's to write the book. it helps to have cooperation with the family.

and i disagree with you rusty_shack. while mccandless made several errors and was naive, i don't think he was headed toward kaczynski territory. mccandless, albiet too late, started to figure it out a bit.

But he was not a public figure and not breaking the law.

Are you saying that a book can only be written if he was a public figure or breaking the law? I'm not following.

 

[93Devil]

93devil, for the book, i'm not sure krakauer needed permission from anyone or anyone needed to give him the right's to write the book. it helps to have cooperation with the family.

and i disagree with you rusty_shack. while mccandless made several errors and was naive, i don't think he was headed toward kaczynski territory. mccandless, albiet too late, started to figure it out a bit.

But he was not a public figure and not breaking the law.

Are you saying that a book can only be written if he was a public figure or breaking the law? I'm not following.

Yes. I guess I am.

Without any permission, I could write a book about Babe Ruth, but I could not write a book about the guy who sold hot dogs at the consession stands.

 

[Rough Mix]

If you don't slander or make libelous claims about the hot dog guy, why couldn't you write the book?

 

[funky_mountain]

not really following either devil. if you want to write a book about me, it's fair game, my permission or not.

but regarding mccandless, he became a public figure when he went missing and turned up dead in alaska. happens all the time, a person who wasn't exactly public figures but did something that made them one.