The Wilderness Experience

FANFAIR

HOT REELS

When Sean Penn's not acting, he directs heartfelt dramas, dirge-like in their rhythms, that make little concession to box-office tastes. In his latest, Into the Wild, which Penn himself adapted from Jon Krakauer's bestseller, the dirge is cacophonous. It’s the tragic true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), who shortly after graduating from Emory University, in 1990, donated his savings to Oxfam and traded in his glittering career prospects for the hobo life. He was found dead of starvation on the Stampede Trail, Alaska, in September 1992.

As McCandless traverses the country, inexorably heading north, he sojourns with a pair of aging hippies (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker), a rowdy grain harvester (Vince Vaughn), a pretty teen folkie (Kristen Stewart), and an old-timer (Hal Holbrook) who wants to adopt him. These encounters are contrasted with flashbacks to McCandless’s upbringing at the hands of his despotic father (William Hurt) and hapless mother (Marcia Gay Harden)—his odyssey was really a flight.

Overwrought though it is, Into the Wild becomes poignant whenever Penn turns to the wistful voice-over narration by Jena Malone (playing McCandless’s sister) or Eddie Vedder's acoustic songs on the soundtrack. Above all, it is Penn’s love letter to the American wilderness and the spirit of rugged individualism. Visually embracing McCandless’s passion for Tolstoy and Jack London, the film looks askance at the bourgeois value system and urban blight. And Penn doesn’t miss the chance to take a dig at George Bush Sr.'s leading the U.S. into the Gulf War. If they gave out Oscars for having the courage of one’s convictions, Penn would have a fistful.

GRAHAM FULLER