It’s a coming of age tale where our hero Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) never actually comes of age. This is in spite of director Sean Penn’s attempt to frame it as such. Segments of the film, titled such things as “childhood” to “adulthood” show us episodes in Chris’ life as he abandons his family without a word and seeks a Thoreau-esque existence alone in the wild frontier of Alaska. We see the hippies and odd folk he meets along his journey and then his true solidarity as he faces life out in the wild.

But Chris never grows up. Sure, facing death, he comes to feel the sting of loneliness. But we are never convinced that Chris ever reaches a stage of the remotest rationality. The film goes through some pains to show us Chris’ intelligence, but it is obvious that this man we are watching is not well in the head.

In spite of himself, there are moments where Penn is able to realize his vision. There is, at times, an odd majesty to the freedom Chris experiences – even if it is clearly foolhardy. There seem to be aspects of this story of nature-worship that are worth being told. Unfortunately, the film is framed around a character whose experiences really aren’t worth being told except as a cautionary tale – thus undermining any potential effect the story might have on us in the first place.

Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack is great.

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