into the wild

Into the wild . If you still haven't seen this film and if you look for a film that will get you into beautiful landscapes and deep existential thoughts, then go right away on the internet to find a cinema that plays it.

I've been waited long before finding an occasion to see it. It was last friday. I didn't know nothing about the film, except that it had been shot by Sean Penn, Whom I saw a few weeks ago 21 grams, and that I would feel far away from home with the shots of the wild landscapes.

Well, I've not been disppointed by these. By I did'nt know what was the plot. And had not imagined it would involve me into such existential thoughts and questions.

Into the wild is the story of a young adult just graduated, Christopher Mac Candless. He comes from a wealthy family whose money he can't bear no more. One of the first scene of the film takes place in a restaurant, where Chistopher quarrels with his parents about a new car they want to buy him.

Finally, Christopher decides to leave everything. Putting his rucksack into his old car, he starts driving. At the end of the first day he finds a car stop besides the road, but the car gets flooded during the night and force him to continue the way by foot. The adventure begins. Christopher gets mad with freedom, bruns the last notes he had and starts meeting people roaming like him and working from time to time to earn the little money he needs. At that time of the film, Christopher seems unaware of the danger and succeeds in everything. Comes then the time when he goes alone in Alaska. He finds a strange old bus abandoned in the wild and settles in it.

He starts then to hunt and fish to survive. He's reached his goal. Living alone freely and aimlessly into the wild. Apart from hunting, fishing, and making the most of the wild, he reads some philosophical books it took with him. That's his way to try to find himself. Because, for sure, the search of himself is the real goal of his trip. His struggles to stay alive and one day realise at least that life becomes real only when shared. From that event he wants to make his way back to humanity. But he needs for that to cross a river and at that time of the year, the river is too big to be crossed. He stands in front of it searching how to cross it, but the sudden consciousness he made has awakened him. He gets aware of the danger now and don't dare trying to cross the river. For the first time, it seems that he's aware he could die. Coming back to his old bus, beginning to starve, because there's few fishes and animals at that time of the year, he starts looking for berrys and eat some avidly. The following day, he wakes up ill. Taking a book explinaining which berry is eatable or not, he gets suddenly aware of something new : he lost ! He's going to die alone. This lonely he sought so far away, for such a long time, is going to kill him ! Becoming terribly weak, he goes on struggling for life, but finally gets totally paralised and die by looking at the blue sky, alone.

Here is the story of Christopher Mac Candless, as I saw it. It got me to thing about loneliness and sharing in our lifes, about searching for a sense in life, about the use of our world full of electronic thingamajigs that prevent us from sharing one with another. It also made me think of the different steps I have already taken in life : Adolescence, where you feel like being invicible, and then adulthood, where you become bitterly aware of all your limits growing from day to day.

Here it is for the film. Thank you M. Sean Penn to grant our eyes with such beautiful landscapes and our mind with such deep toughts.

Now, what do you think? Are you gonna rush to the film?

Enjoy that sunday !

Géraldine