ART HOUSE OFFERINGS: Into The Wild (2007)

INTO THE WILD (2007)

My Rating: ***** (out of *****)

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, Marica Gay Harden, Jena Malone, William Hurt, Kristen Stewart, Brian Dierker, Hal Holbrook

Director: Sean Penn

My Review: Sean Penn's brutally beautiful Into the Wild will capture the soul of any true lover of nature, adventure, and mystery. Contrary to what some reviewers have expressed, I did not see Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's 1995 bestseller as idolizing Christopher McCandless, the film's central figure who completely cuts himself off from his dysfunctional family to pursue a life in the wild, forgotten places of America. Rather, McCandless (beautifully and charismatically portrayed by Emile Hirsch) is a real person, following the call of the wild in his heart, while, at the same time, punishing his family for their sins and deftly avoiding the deep emotional connection that he realizes, too late, is the goal behind all of his striving.

Chris's journey is at once exhilarating, heartbreaking, devastating, and redemptive. And Penn's incredibly honest and realistic script does a great service to all of the characters involved. There are no villians here, only human lives, working toward some sense of peace, identity, and meaning.

The acting is flawless. Besides the aforementioned Hirsch, every actor is spot on. William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden, as McCandless' parents, take what could have been caricatures and flesh them out, making them gut-wrenchingly real. We truly experience the ache of longing that Jena Malone as McCandless' sister has for her wandering brother. Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker hit just the right notes as a hippie couple with whom Chris bonds. But Hal Holbrook almost steals the movie from Hirsch as an older man whom McCandless befriends prior to his ultimately fatal trek into the Alaskan wilderness. Holbrook should win this year's best supporting actor Oscar, and Hirsch just might deserve that title for leading actor.

The photography is breathtaking, made even more authentic by the fact that Penn shot on location in every area of the country that Chris ventured to. We are literally right there with Chris on every step of his spiritual odyssey. The music sets the right tone of reflective wistfulness and melancholy. And, perhaps best of all, the sweet love of God touches this movie in a miraculous and profound way that takes what could have been a dispiriting and somewhat pointless conclusion, transforming it and all that has come before into an exquisite portrait of the wayward soul's spiritual journey back to the One who formed it.

The year's very best. Period.

R, for some strong language, several scenes of extensive naturalistic nudity, thematic material, and some gruesome images