Eye Candy #55 - "Into the Wild"

Into the Wild: Rarely do I get as conflicted in my feelings about a movie as I do with "Into the Wild". On one hand, it's exceedingly well-made and well-acted, particularly in the supporting parts. On the other hand, because it's based on life (and death) of a real person who made such poor decisions in the name of living on and by the earth, I can't stomach, condone, or particularly embrace his decisions to travel almost completely unprepared into the Alaskan wilderness. Christopher McCandless, after graduating from Emory University, hitchhikes and tramps his way across the United States from Virginia to Alaska, pursuing dreams of Jack London and Thoreau with that early 90's crushing naivete. He meets people along the way whose lives he touches (and who he is touched by), and then through his ignorance, dies in the Alaskan wilderness roughly 100 days after he arrives from starvation. He doesn't know how to forage, kill and preserve game, anything that he should know (and had the time to learn) before arriving. The purpose of you living your life in a particular way is TO LIVE, then DYING (in agony) would seem to be a complete failure. So, if this had been a fictional film, I may have given it 5 stars. But because it's aggrandizing foolishness, I won't. Emile Hirsch (who I typically enjoy watching) is good as McCandless (it's one of those parts that actors can sink their teeth into), but three other actors stole the movie for me: Hal Holbrook as a lonely, older man that Christopher bonds with on his way north; Brian Dierker, an aging hippie that he meets several times on his trip with wife troubles; and Vince Vaughn in a loud role without his usual oomph. Even with my conflicts with the film, I would still recommend people viewing this film. Woodchuck sez, "Me conflicted, but me likey."