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- - Into the Wild, The Movie (http://www.cougarguard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20444)

Into the Wild, The Movie

I finished watching this last night and I enjoyed it quite a lot. The cinematography was spectacular and I thought it was a great story regardless if you agree with its accuracy or not. I thought Emile did a fine job and it is too bad he got cast in Speed Racer.

wife rented it, but i refused to watch it after i found out who wrote it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters (Post 234765)

wife rented it, but i refused to watch it after i found out who wrote it.

1,168 reviews, most of them positive. I doubt even he could drum up that many shills. You can't affect it with one review, as there are too many.

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Wild-Jon-...4423939&sr=1-1

oh and the sound track which was done by either Pearl Jam or just Eddie Vedder was very well done and fit the movie very well.

It's a good piece of movie making - well written with great cinematography. A fine film.

But the story behind it is suspect, as CM alludes. Even if you overlook Krakauer's generosity on McCandless’ cause of death, he was a shitty outdoorsman. And when viewed in the light of how much time he spent preparing to go to Alaska - he is a complete and total failure.

Quote:

When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did
wasn’t even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic and inconsiderate. First off, he spent
very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail
without even a map of the area. If he had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament using one of several routes that could have been successful. Consider where
he died. An abandoned bus. How did it get there? On a trail. If the bus could get into
the place where it died, why couldn’t McCandless get out of the place where he died?
The fact that he had to live in an old bus in the first place tells you a lot. Why didn’t he
have an adequate shelter from the beginning? What would he have done if he hadn’t
found the bus? A bag of rice and a sleeping bag do not constitute adequate gear and
provisions for a long stay in the wilderness.

http://nmge.gmu.edu/textandcommunity...n_Response.pdf

The movie was alright. I think this book and movie though go along with Landpoke's thread and the discussion of "creative non-fiction." I remember after viewing it with the wife we had a discussion. She thought that it was cool that he would just do that and live this minimalist life. I thought he was an idiot. I still do.

67lb, in a sleeping bag, in an abandoned bus.

that is a tale of woe.

He starved to death in just 4 months. He must have eaten very little. Imagine what he would have done come winter. He couldn't survive in the most fecund time of the year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by surfah33 (Post 234784)

is this that piece of shit fiction by Krackhead?

I'd never read anything by Krackhead again, not after Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven.

Quote:

Originally Posted by surfah33 (Post 234784)

The movie (and book) did an admiral job of attempting to glorify the exploits of a kid who was a complete idiot. He was bound to die young one way or another.

But the scenery and music were cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski (Post 234793)

The movie (and book) did an admiral job of attempting to glorify the exploits of a kid who was a complete idiot. He was bound to die young one way or another.

But the scenery and music were cool.

Glorify? I wouldn't say that. I thought the movie (I cant speak to the book having not read it) did a good job of showing his mistakes (taking only rice to eat, not listening to the adults he met on his travels), his naivety (thinking he is going to use a .22 to bring down big game, not having any sort of snow shoes, the driver gives him rubber boots) and his regret (remember him writing "Happiness is real only when shared?) in his decisions.

I will agree the kid, as portrayed in the movie, was a pompous ignorant fool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coach McGuirk (Post 234794)

He comes out looking even worse in the book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski (Post 234793)

The movie (and book) did an admiral job of attempting to glorify the exploits of a kid who was a complete idiot. He was bound to die young one way or another.

But the scenery and music were cool.

LOL. Were his parents Mormons who drove him to it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte (Post 234802)

LOL. Were his parents Mormons who drove him to it?

No. But they were incredibly narcissistic and career-obsessed. It is actually a pretty interesting case study of a dysfunctional family. Quite sad though.

Sounds like Grizzley Man. As I've said before, I started hoping the bears would eat the guy about 15 minutes in. My prayers were answered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski (Post 234793)

The movie (and book) did an admiral job of attempting to glorify the exploits of a kid who was a complete idiot. He was bound to die young one way or another.

But the scenery and music were cool.

I read the book and watched the movie and Lebowski pretty much exactly sums up my thoughts.

The scenery was great, though, and I loved hearing Vetter's voice passim.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte (Post 234802)

LOL. Were his parents Mormons who drove him to it?

Perhaps his parents were Jewish. Ever thought of that?

I liked it, but I couldn't tell if Sean Penn was actually trying to make us feel sorry for the kid because he didn't have ideal parents even though they paid his way through everything including college. I only felt bad for him at the end of the movie, I have to imagine Penn realized this is how most people would feel.

http://outside.away.com/outside/feat...he_wild_1.html

I suppose this is the original article K. wrote for Outside Magazine.

A photo of McCandless holding his farewell note, before he died.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_wYFg0ZvM6j8/...rop001_640.jpg

I went to sleep last night tossing and turning with McCandless on my mind.

yet another accusation from someone who was acquainted with the subject of Krakauer's book, who says Krakauer gets it all wrong, for Krakauer's own purposes.

Quote:

I just finished reading Into The Wild after recognizing I had attended Emory Univ together (I graduated 2 years earlier). Although I find Krakauer to be a very talented writer I also find his descriptive protrayal of Chris very limited much to my chagrin. To say I knew Chris is to say I had a class with him and knew of his editorials in the "Wheel" but my own recollection is not as an outgoing, funny well adjusted guy. Much to the contrary, he seemed to be depressed, reclusive or as some might say, a loner. My opinion doesn't take away from the the seriousness of the book, it just makes me wonder how much literary license Krakauer has used either to sell books or to help comfort his family in grief.
I suspect Chris' lack of close family bonds is likely as result of chronic depression and his rebellious behaviour is manifestation of these thoughts/beliefs. It was noteworthy that none of the pictures supplied to the author by Chris' own sister ever showed him smiling. Indeed, I looked up his picture in my Emory yearbook and again, no smile. In fact it interesting that he is the ONLY person not smiling on the page!
I'm not critical of Chris trying to "find" himself in the wilderness as many young people often search for something similar; however, as many experience survival experts have already pointed out, it was an ill concieved plan by an inexperienced person which eventually led to his tragic death. This cannot be denied. And it is very sad.
However, Krakauer is missing the real tragedy here; Chris was mentally sick and needed serious psychological help which might have prevented this tragic end and it is here that the author fails in my opinion. To compare his climb of Devil's Thumb with Chris is comparing apples and oranges. The author was a very accomplished climber from a young age whereas Chris had no "survival" experience as anyone who knows can tell you(many accomplished guides have pointed this fact out elsewhere). So although Chris espoused the literary ideals of London, Tolstoy and Thoreau, the alaskan wilderness cares not about such things which brings reality and eventually death to the young man.
It is so sad, Chris was very bright and deserved a better life, however I believe his depression drove him to his death. His need for some form of "test" would win him acceptance from his father thus putting an end to a long bitter relationship. Nevertheless, the book is an engaging account of a tragic part of his life and should serve as a reminder for to examine ourselves and those around us with unconditional acceptance, not so as to stop encounters into the wild but to learn from nature as a child learns to walk - carefully, one step at a time until we can run!

If this is true, I think it is because K. unconsciously reinvents people into versions of himself or his imagination. He goes to the place he thinks he should go, not to the place where the evidence leads.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product...rBy=addOneStar

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters (Post 235434)

yet another accusation from someone who was acquainted with the subject of Krakauer's book, who says Krakauer gets it all wrong, for Krakauer's own purposes.

If this is true, I think it is because K. unconsciously reinvents people into versions of himself or his imagination. He goes to the place he thinks he should go, not to the place where the evidence leads.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product...rBy=addOneStar

I did find it odd in the book how Krakauer kept juxtaposing stories from his own life in the middle of the narrative.

interesting that Guy Waterman, the father of John Mallon Waterman who perished attempting to climb Mt. Denali as recounted by Krakauer in his book, committed suicide by climbing a mountain in 2000 and freezing to death.

http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Garden-.../dp/1593760485

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ad...y.html#story_2

Another son of Guy (John's brother) also committed suicide per Amazon reviewer.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...less-died.html

One notes how Krakauer's glosses over his own mistake(s).