i liked the book a lot. i may have liked the movie even more. and the soundtrack was a bonus for me, which was very good also. people that dont like i can understand. a less normal more bare bones quasi prehistoric kind of life does not appeal to you. the lonely part. the living in more prehistoric type atmosphere and you can go on and on. it just appeals to me as a human. as much as i like visiting cities and everything that involves. i like the other side of the coin as well.
I love this movie. Chris may have been hard headed in his refusal to be properly prepared for where he was going, but he seemed like a genuinely good person who was very insightful. One of the craziest things about this movie is how the actor who played Rainey isn't even an actor and he was amazing.
I haven't seen "Into the Wild," but Emile Hirsch's performance in "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" was powerful. Also his performance in "Mudge Boy," especially the scene with the chicken. Also "Imaginary Heroes," and "Alpha Dog." Hell, throw in "Lords of Dogtown" as well. I've been a fangirl for awhile. It would suck to see him die.
Wikipedia had this link of an Alaskan park ranger's response... http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cach...pdf&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a If this were a Hollywood blockbuster, it might've been like a 21st century version of Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther. It sounds like I'm trashing the guy, but I liked the movie and the character. I just don't like how a good person could've prevented wasting his life with a little planning to pursue his dreams.
Can't answer for Lil but I think he was a brat because: Spoiler He disappears without saying anything to anybody. His parents and his sister especially had to be in turmoil that whole two years. Regardless of troubles growing up you don't do that to people. How hard would it be to place a quick phone call or two? Oddly enough, he died because he didn't really respect nature. For him it was always a game. Even though he wanted to go "Into the wild" he had no clue that the wild will kill you if you take it lightly. And, yes, the ranger is right in that he was silly for 1. depending on an abandon bus. 2. not thinking about how the bus got there (not through the river).
I really enjoyed the movie. The part where he finally figures out what happiness really means to him and the part with the bear I thought were two of the most powerful scenes I've seen in a movie in a long time. I didn't know it was a true story until the end of the movie and finding out how easily he could have survived took a little luster off the movie I have to admit. I know a lot of Alaskans call him an idiot but I think he fully understood and accepted the risks he was taking and that takes a special type of person. I wish I knew people like him.
It's just my opinion, but it seems as though a lot of the people who are calling him stupid for being unprepared don't realize that this wasn't a camping trip. He took some supplies, but his plan was basically to have no plan at all...to rough it in just about every sense of the word. He wanted to find himself, to be "out there in the wild" on his own, using his own devices to conquer whatever challenges he met along the way. The level of unpreparedness is what made his quest what it was. It's not as if McCandless didn't realize that a map would have helped him immensely. He knew it would and yet he chose not to bring one, because that's the kind of journey he felt he had to take. Same thing with distancing himself from his family. I don't think he would have truly felt like he was out on his own if he had those ties to home. I don't think he should be condemned for hurting his family. It was a necessary evil in his decision to leave, but he went through with it anyway. People do it all the time, and although they don't mean to hurt anyone, it happens. I don't think it necessarily means they're selfish.
I don't see how anyone can call him stupid. It's somewhat selfish to say that he has a duty to his family or anyone else. You only have a duty to yourself assuming you haven't produced children. He wanted to live his dream and he did. The message of solitude and power of nature was brilliant and was one of my favorite movies of 2007.
I liked the movie, but maybe it's because i like to fish i just don't see how anyone can starve so close to water. You have fishing gear (whatever the old man gave him) might as well use it. Even if you don't catch anything you have the grubs or worms you dug up for a tasty meal. then again, maybe he didn't like to fish.
It would not have mattered. Spoiler from what I remember in the book, the berries he ate actually robbed him of nutrition he normally would have taken in from eating. He was not getting enough sustinence to overcome this condition, and even eating enything and everything he could have probably would not have helped in his already "borderline" physical state.
It is selfish to do what he did. I think age/children will color one's reading/viewing of his story. You are young, right? Perhaps he had no duty to inform his family that he intentionally ran away and was not murdered, but it would have been the humanly decent thing to do considering he put at least three lives in turmoil for two years that he was alive and gone (compounded by the fact that they now have to deal with his loss forever). And, yes, I know being unprepared was part of his thing but that could only work when he was still in "civilization". He was not smart to take his game to real nature...unless his goal was suicide (and obviously it wasn't). It just caught up to him and he was too young to realize the odds were high that it would. From what I remember of his writing he did not have that understanding.
True. But apparently the Spoiler berries he ate came from a plant very similar to one that would have been just fine to eat. Although I don't recall if the book made it appear that he was intentionally going for the "good" plant and made a mistake, or if he was just guessing
Zach Galifianakis was in the movie. Here is an interview with his brother, Seth. <object width="464" height="388" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf?6045" /><param name="flashvars" value="key=55a0e8db11" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="464" height="388" flashvars="key=55a0e8db11" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" src="http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf?6045" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><noscript><a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/55a0e8db11">Interview with Zach's twin brother, Seth</a> on <a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/">FunnyOrDie.com</a></noscript>
Maybe his father finally felt some of the pain of abandonment that his child with his first wife felt. I did feel for the sister, but I think she understood. I don't think Chris was oblivious to the possibilty of death. That's what made Alaska the great test. His whole purpose there was to survive. He had to know death was a possibility.
If he relied on a book about edible plants, then he could've brought an emergency map. There's often trails which become impassable for whatever reasons. It's unfortunate he found out the harshest way.
Just saw this movie this weekend. I thought it was one of the better movies I've seen in a long time. I need to get the soundtrack as well. "Hard Sun" is currently one of my favorite songs.
I've read from multiple sources that he almost certainly died from starvation and it had nothing to do with poisoning from any plants. That was just speculation on the part of the author of the book and it turned out to be incorrect.
