Into the Wild

I am an avid movie fan. When I like a movie a lot, I tend to want to watch everything else an actor has been in. My current obsession is Twilight. Thus, I am wanting to watch everything Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have been in. So this led me to the movie, Into the Wild, which Kristen has a role in. It was also the movie that Robert had seen just before his audition for Twilight and inspired him to want to work on Twilight with Kristen. (I really know too much about Twilight don't I?)

I had been putting off seeing this movie prior to this as I am not a big Sean Penn fan , who wrote and directed this film. But after viewing it, I will say I was pleasantly surprised. Into the Wild is the real life story of Christopher McCandless, played by Emile Hirsch, who after graduating college in 1992, leaves everything behind (including family, money and a promising future) to make a trek to Alaska to live by himself. The movie follows the path he takes to get there. On the way, he encounters several quirky characters who were played by Catherine Keeener, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook and of course Kristen Stewart. They all did wonderful jobs and I would have like to learn more about each of them. Of course, that would have made the film a lot longer 148 minutes, but I was interested enough, I would have watched.

Emile Hirsch also does a wonderful job portraying McCandless. There is a scene at the end where they show a picture of the real Christopher McCandless and the resemblance between him and Hirsch is uncanny. The cinematography was beautifully done. It made me want to go to Alaska. Also, the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder was awesome and really added to the feel of the movie. And I will be the first to admit, Sean Penn did a good job making this movie that reminds us all that happiness is meant to be shared.