Into the Wild | 
 enlarge | Director: Sean Penn
Actors: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Brian Dierker
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $4.69
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Rating:  230 reviews
Sales Rank: 467
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Danish (Original Language), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 148 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 348124
UPC: 097363481249
EAN: 0097363481249
ASIN: B000ZN802W
Theatrical Release Date: September 21, 2007
Release Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: 1 DVD without Case.
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Product Description
This is the true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch). Freshly graduated from college with a promising future ahead McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people -- a fearless risk-taker who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature.System Requirements:Running Time: 148 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMING OF AGE Rating: R UPC: 097363481249 Manufacturer No: 348124
Amazon.com
A superb cast and an even-handed treatment of a true story buoy Into the Wild, Sean Penn's screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer's bestselling book. Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, scion of a prosperous but troubled family who, after graduating from Atlanta's Emory University in the early 1990s, decides to chuck it all and become a self-styled "aesthetic voyager" in search of "ultimate freedom." He certainly doesn't do it halfway: after donating his substantial savings account to charity and literally torching the rest of his cash, McCandless changes his name (to "Alexander Supertramp"), abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his bickering, clueless parents and Jena Malone as his baffled but loving sister, who relates much of the backstory in voice-over), and hits the road, bound for the Alaskan bush and determined not to be found. For the next two years he lives the life of a vagabond, working a few odd jobs, kayaking through the Grand Canyon into Mexico, landing on L.A.'s Skid Row, and turning his back on everyone who tried to befriends him (including Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as two kindly, middle-aged hippies and Hal Holbrook in a deeply affecting performance as an old widower who tries to take "Alex" under his wing). Penn, who directed and wrote the screenplay, alternates these interludes with scenes depicting McCandless' Alaskan idyll--which soon turns out be not so idyllic after all. Settling into an abandoned school bus, he manages to sustain himself for a while, shooting small game (and one very large moose), reading, and recording his existential musings on paper. But when the harsh realities of life in the wilderness set in, our boy finds himself well out of his depth, not just ill-prepared for the rigors of day to day survival but realizing the importance of the very thing he wanted to escape--namely, human relationships. It'd be easy to either idealize McCandless as a genuinely free spirit, unencumbered by the societal strictures that tie the rest of us down, or else dismiss him as a hopelessly callow naif, a fool whose disdain for practical realities ultimately doomed him. Into the Wild does neither, for the most part telling the tale with an admirable lack of cheap sentiment and leaving us to decide for ourselves. --Sam Graham
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| Customer Reviews:
 Free at Last October 15, 2008
Burton R. Wallace (NC, usa)
What i Got out of this movie was simply that this young man lacked nothing materially, but was starved for a relationship with his dad and mom, and had the father wound so common for american young men... having grown up with hard working dads who come home at night spent, and who spend lots of time assembling their portfolios and place their security in how much money they have and what status level they are at, how many toys they have..ect ect.. this young man had probably been told most of his life what to do, how to do it, and this is what success is blah blah... you must look like this, act like this, go here and do this and he was damn tired of it, and wanted to find out who he really was, and if it was impossible to find himself in the presence of his family then he had to get away, and if they had any knowledge of where he was they would probably be sending him money, instruction and advice, and trying to tell him every move to make... so he broke away... and by degrees he grew up and began to see what was really important in life and to find the healing he didnt even realize he needed... the fact that he made mistakes and died as a result does not take away from the movie at all. to me the movie was a true story of the journey we are all on, and the goal is not to die with the most toys or to be a big shot know it all, but to live well and to learn that we all make mistakes and need to learn to forgive and grow and love and to " Call Things by their Right Name" and in this regard i think this young man was a success.
Moving and Inspiring October 6, 2008
IF (Portsmouth, NH USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just finished watching this film for the 2nd time. Cried like a baby both times. Between the direction, and Hirsch's, Keener's, Vaughn's (whom I usually can't stand) and (in my opinion) most notably Holbrook's performances, this has become one of my favorite films of the year. I know Holbrook's part was small, but he was amazing, and I really feel that he should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Anyway, the scene with him and Hirsch in Ron's jeep is heartbreaking. When he asks Alex to let him adopt him, then realizing that he will never see Alex again, very sad. Kudos to Penn for his direction and screenplay.
Theories and conjecture September 26, 2008
Michael T. Miller (Georgia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not going to theorize about why CM did what he did. I have no idea. I'm not privy to his mind and thus I have no way of knowing why he chose to do what he did. However, I will say this, I cannot, under any circumstances, fathom having the guts to walk into the wild and make a go of it. I can imagine it all day long but I doubt I could actually do it.
The movie is intense and amazing. It tells a wonderfully tragic story.
I'm incredibly tired of reading reviews of people bashing this man for his "ignorance". Of course he was. We all are. But what makes him unique is that he tried. He took a gamble and it didn't pay off as most people would hope. He still tried. So to all of the wonderful experts on survivalism and backcountry living.... take note... The Man was searching for something. We'll never know if he found it. Ultimately, something found him. Call it a wasted life but it wasn't your's to waste. It was his.
That being said... it is a very good Movie. Regardless of the assumed reasons for any of it.
Try to watch it.
 I watched it in disbelief September 21, 2008
Persnickety one (Buffalo, NY)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
Coleridge taught us that to enjoy fiction, we need to have a "willing suspension of disbelief". But "Into the Wild" is supposed to be a "true" story: it should hang together (within the liberties required to compress years of plot into a couple of hours). What we get instead is Krakauer and Sean Penn's romanticization of a life and a death that make no sense. The viewer, like the family member of an alcoholic, starts in denial. When Chris McCandless buys rice, a book on native plants a 22 rifle and cartridges, we don't realize that that was ALL he took with him on his trek to the coast (no compass, no map, nothing to eat besides rice, no plan for what happens after he reaches the ocean). The author and director portray McCandless as a heroic youth (naive, perhaps, but heroic none the less).
However, about the time he settles down in an abandoned bus to starve to death because he realizes he cannot get back across the raging river I found myself asking questions like "How did the bus get there? Did it ford the raging river and climb the fifty foot bank, or did it perhaps come by the road? Why isn't this explorer following the bus tracks?" I left with the uncomfortable feeling that Chris McCandless was a pathetic figure, probably mentally ill, who ran off into the wilderness and died. My heart goes out to the McCandless family who have their loss portrayed for the masses but not before Penn has tarred their reputation and blamed them for Chris's problems (as nearly as I can tell from the internet accounts, the horrid parents are Penn's adaptation): as mental health professionals will tell you, mental illness is not the parent's fault.
Although the cinematography is great (the scenery is stunning) and much of the acting is first rate, my lasting impression of the movie is one of being in very poor taste. I feel like I owe the McCandless family an apology for having watched it.
Excellent September 21, 2008
Michael LaRocca (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you watch the first 5 or so minutes, you might expect this movie to be lame, but it most certainly is not. Inspired by an amazing true story, it's a very powerful film about a guy you really want to learn about. Fine writing, fine acting, and amazing scenery. I'm impressed.
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