A young man finds himself disillusioned with the material trappings of society and the pressure of his parents and decides to shed all of his worldly possessions and walk the earth. Along the way he touches the lives of several strangers and discovers several truths about himself.

At some time in everyone’s life, you reach a point where you question your life’s meaning. You look around and wonder why you’ve been studying so long to get that good job, or working so hard to get that next promotion. Inevitably, the answer is money. We work to get it and work harder so we can use it to buy more material possessions. If we don’t do that, then our other option is to not work and roam the earth living off the land. INTO THE WILD is the story of a man who decided to do just that, but it’s also much more.

If that was the only element in the film, then this would basically be a remake of JEREMIAH JOHNSON or a “willing” version of CASTAWAY. This film is not just about living in the wild, it’s about the choices you make and the influence you have on the people you meet and what those relationships teach you about life. Chris’s journey into the wild was interesting in and of itself, but what was fascinating was the amount of influence he had on those around him. Everyone gained something from having known him except, perhaps, his parents. Ironically, those are the two that had the most to gain from someone like Chris.

Sean Penn does a fine job of telling two stories at the same time. One tells the story of his struggles living off the land and the other tells about his journey. As good of a job as he did, he did make some directorial decisions that I felt distracted from the greatness of the story he was telling. First, I hated the writing across the screen that popped up at certain points. I realize this was done as quotes from Chris, but I found them to be unnecessary and distracting. I also felt that Chris’s sister needed more voiceover or screen time. She seemed to be the one person that understood Chris’s motivations and I enjoyed her story.

I think this film will mean different things to different people, but the beauty of it is that it doesn’t push anything on you. It doesn’t try to make you feel guilty for owning too many DVD’s, or for not contributing enough to charity. It merely tells a story of a guy that felt out of place in this world and that’s something that everyone, of every class, can relate to.

Video: Widescreen (2.35:1): I have to say that this is one of the better DVD transfers I’ve seen in a long time from Paramount. There’s a lot of great scenery in the film and it comes through beautifully.

Audio: English, French and Spanish 5.1 with English, French and Spanish subtitles: The audio was also very well done.

The Story, The Characters (21:53): This is a nice featurette that chronicles the story and how it came to be a film. It started out giving some great background information, but then takes a quick turn and ends up being a little to fluffy for its own good. There are some interesting tidbits sprinkled throughout, but I really wanted more. I really wanted more of an exploration of the people he came into contact with in the film, but they don’t really decipher the fact from the fiction.

The Experience (17:18): This is pretty much a making of featurette. It’s decent, but again, I wanted more. There’s a lot of focus on Sean Penn and the atmosphere he created around the film. It doesn’t actually sound like they had a good time filming. In fact, it seems like they were miserable and perhaps that contributed to the genuine feel of the film. I really wanted more insight, but the focus on Emile’s weight loss was very interesting.

There are also some Previews

INTO THE WILD is not for the casual movie fan. If you want to see a guy struggle and live off the land, then go rent JEREMIAH JOHNSON. If you want to see a film that’s deeper than that and has an emotional look at the life of one lonely man, then this one is for you. I highly recommend it.