Guy de Fraumeni's Hollywood In The Hamptons

Into The Wild

In an overwhelming time of excesses, haven't we all wanted at one time or another to get away from it all? Department stores remind me that the Holiday season is already upon us and more is much better. Why not in Movieland? The queasy making, over-indulgence of "squeeze" in Feast of Love has me wanting to pass on Thanksgiving dinner desserts this year and the desperately ugly and pointedly stomach-turning remake of The Heartbreak Kid has so much stupid hysteria and misogyny, I almost booked passage on a slow boat to China. Instead, being captured by Sean Penn's Into The Wild's passionate restlessness, I was swept away to a far, far better place of deep reflection.

Christopher Johnson McCandless stripped himself of too many possessions and an unhappy family life in the early 1990s and made his way Into The Wild, to the fresh wide-open spaces of the Alaskan wilderness. The recounting of his arrogantly impetuous search for "himself" by studying nature and its grandeur is wonderfully stated in the nonfiction bestseller by Jon Krakauer from which Mr. Penn wrote the screenplay and enthusiastically directed this romantically radical tract. Penn was determined to fill Christopher's footsteps as he followed them through the vast North American landscape: the deserts and prairies, canyons and Chris's most revered Alaska. He was mystically enthralled by its mysterious wildness. He projected himself into a spiritually charged world of his own making, away from his parents' materialistic bitterness. In spite of an occasional gripe about "society," his wanderlust is self-containing. He has no particular counter-culture axes to wield. His drive is forward to new experience and wonder. He craves nature's splendor regardless of risk, rarely looking into rear view mirrors at what's behind him. His anticipations far exceed his expectations.

McCandless was an honor grad from Emory University when he decided upon his quest for moral uplifting. He donates his $24,292 to Oxfam, burns his driver's license and credit cards and sets out with a volume of Thoreau under his arm, wandering across deserts, Kayaking riskily down the Colorado with a reckless breeziness one could only attribute to a privileged youth. His diverse paths lead him to lost and lonely people, as unsure as to where they are as our 1990s Candide. He decided to travel without maps. A voice over narration by Chris' sister (Jena Malone) tells us why he's rejected his affluent family life in Virginia. His mother and father (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) have been cut from his life, he even renames himself Alexander Supertramp. Over the film's consuming 2 hours 25 minutes, Chris will find human distress signals. In South Dakota he encounters a surrogate parent in a grain farmer (Vince Vaughn) and, another, in a poignant, widowed retired military man (Hal Holbrook, in luminous form). In a trailer camp he councils Hippie type "rubbertramps" called that simply because they travel on rubber tired wheels (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker). Chris is so consoling to them he is asked, "You're not Jesus, are you?"

Sainthood is not implied by Into The Wild for its protagonist, Chris. Mr. Penn obviously loves his subject but even with its tragic conclusion as Christopher starves to death in an abandoned bus in isolated Alaska, there is no hint of martyrdom. He was neither suicidal nor unbalanced. He may have been a poor outdoorsman and, that combined with his almost blessed kindness and integrity made him vulnerable to the excesses of nature. With his need to encompass the greatness of nature, he grasped at it too heedlessly. Perhaps as some surmise, he got too close to nature. At an RV camp in the California desert he connects with an underage girl (Kristen Stewart). She falls for him deeply but the romance is not consummated, in spite of his telling her, "If you want something in life, reach out and grab it." Was his not physically loving the girl a noble act? Sean Penn's masterful achievement never resorts to heroics. The grace of Chris' intense curiosity of icy rivers and where they lead the imagination is his self indulgence. Greatness lies only in the terrain. Purity is reserved for the cold waters of hidden America.

Into the Wild invites you to discover the kind of deliverance Christopher sought. His journey is followed with precision. Locations are those actually traversed by him. Penn is not solely responsible for this powerful celebration. Emile Hirsch as Christopher gives a once in a lifetime performance. Super cinematographer, Eric Gautier gives added dimension to the majesty of the unforgettable film landmarks that will occupy your sympathies for a long time.

Guy-Jean de Fraumeni is the producer/writer/director of award-winning European and American feature films. He has been a judge at Major Film and TV award competitions including the Oscars, the Emmy's and various film festivals. Sarah Halsey assists him.

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