Every once in awhile, I don’t just see a movie, I experience it, due to my own personal attachment to the material. Back in 2003, just two weeks into my first semester at Loyola Marymount University, I went to see Lost in Translation. I hadn’t really made too many friends yet, and I was in a new city and state that I knew little about. Thus, watching Lost in Translation, a movie about two people in a foreign land who have seemingly little to get through the day before they meet each, was an emotional experience. I didn’t love the movie for its narrative. I loved the movie because it hit me on a personal level at that time in my life that no other film had. I have had a few more emotional filmgoing experiences since that day, Brokeback Mountain and United 93 in particular, but no movie since Lost in Translation has affected me on such a personal level than Sean Penn’s Into the Wild.

Here is a true story about a college graduate named Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) who goes against everything that is expected of him. He’s got the degree, intelligence, good looks, a surefire job path, and wealthy parents who are willing to buy him anything he needs. What does he do? He essentially disappears, donates all of his 24 thousand dollars to charity, and leaves town in his junky little car. He doesn’t go straight into a job. He doesn’t go home for a vacation. Tired of expectations, society demands, hypocrites, he just takes off on a journey that’s more than an adventure but an entire lifestyle change.

I just graduated from college and have been trying to find my way in post-graduate life. My dream is to direct movies, and I have been making films for awhile now. But it’s really difficult to figure out the best path toward becoming a filmmaker, and I find myself constantly wondering if my next step or my next job will take me further away for my dream. I also have a lack of real world experience, with mostly a four-month semester in Europe being the most exciting time of my life. I feel lathargic, like an adventure would be ideal at this moment in my life. I feel like I need to go live, especially if I want to clear my head and create more vibrant, interesting stories.

Watching this film brought me closer to that dream. The film doesn’t make me want to go live in Alaska for a year, but it made me re-think my values and priorities. What I responded to most was Christopher’s courage to do something different, something that he believed in, to not just do the obvious. And he does so with such audacious fervor and abandon that it’s tragic to see what actually happened to him. Sitting in the theatre, I was completely taken with this guy’s emotional, extraordinary journey, and I think he’s nothing less than a hero.

But that’s just my personal response to Christopher’s action. Into the Wild is also a sensational film, the best I’ve seen all year. It’s meticulously crafted, beautifully acted, gorgeously shot, and endlessly fascinating. The cast that was assembled for this movie is astonishing, and not one actor is wasted. Not a single frame of footage was shot on a sound-stage, but instead, every exotic locale is the real deal, with the filmmakers traveling most states on the west side of the country to get their footage, and it all looks great. There is a lot of material that the editor had to waid through, I’m sure, but it’s all pieced together in a way that makes for the most emotional journey possible.

I was a little apprehensive about seeing this movie at first because it is written and directed by the acclaimed actor Sean Penn. He’s talented, but he’s made three movies before that are unseen by me and regarded as mediocre by others. As a personality, he seems a little bit stuck up, surely not someone who could tackle a movie with these kinds of themes. I don’t know how exactly he came involved, but Penn offers up a fantastic directorial vision that is perfect in as much the film holds back along with how much it delivers. A director like Steven Spielberg would’ve made the movie all about the relationship between Christopher and his parents, with an entire subplot, I’m sure, involving his father trying to track him down in Alaska, with there being one final scene re-uniting father and son before Christopher dies of starvation. Is it a compliment to say that Penn’s not exactly having a signature style actually helps this movie?

Emile Hirsch embodies this role through and through. He was the perfect choice to play the part of Christopher, because Hirsch looks like the kind of guy who would flee civilization to capture something that he needs to find for himself. He’s been a little under the radar for the last five years as an actor, appearing in films like The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The Girl Next Door, and the Lords of Dogtown. I saw him in a little-known 2003 Sundance indie called The Mudge Boy that he was just fantastic in, so I’ve always known he had an even better performance in him. Hirsch never overplays a moment in Into the Wild, and he never tries to stray outside of his acting range. The most extraordinary transformation occurs in the end, when he’s dying of starvation, and we see the ramifications of his illness. It’s more than just the physical transformation, it’s the look on his face, the movements of his walk, the shivering in the cold. It’s a great performance.

The film features a wide variety of tremendous supporting performances. Some stand-outs include Catherine Keener, playing a hippie woman who befriends Christopher twice during his journey; Kristen Stewart, who makes an impression as a young girl who falls for Christopher; Vince Vaughn, in an effective extended cameo playing someone who takes Christopher in for work; Jena Malone, who beautifully narrates the film and plays Christopher’s sister; and Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt, such perfect choices for the conservative parents. The latter two aren’t seen all that often, but they’re seen enough for us to understand why Christopher needs to distance himself from them. And they’re not treated as monsters; just as two rich people who have no real understanding of their son. The final moment that we see Hurt roaming the street outside his house, falling down onto the povement, weeping uncontrollably, is a really effective moment.

All the supporting actors do good jobs, but it’s the emotional turn from the grandfather figure Hal Halbrook that takes this movie to a whole other level. Into the Wild is split up into five chapters. While all work well, some work better than others. The final chapter involves Christopher befriending an older man who lost his wife and child at a young age and has grown old alone. The friendship these two share over the course of this part of the movie isn’t overdone or sentimental in any way. It feels completely natural, especially with Christopher never giving up at pursuing his Alaska quest. Holbrook is lovable and genuine, and absolutely heartbreaking in his final scene of the movie, asking Christopher if he’d like to be his adopted son. The tears that well up in his eyes in his knowing he’s never going to see this young man again affected me more than any moment of a scene in a movie this year. He deserves an Oscar nomination.

Into the Wild is the best film I’ve seen so far this year. It’s also a movie that is going to stand the test of time, and one that I’m sure I’ll be re-visiting many times to come. I saw it a week ago, and it’s still permeating my thoughts, unlike other movies, both good and bad, that are forgotten hours later. This a powerful film that is a huge success for all involved, especially writer/director Penn, star Hirsch, and supporting actor Holbrook. Christopher McCandless died of starvation in that cold Alaskan wildnerness, but he left a legacy that this film honors on an utterly fascinating level. It’s been four long years since the emotional experience of viewing Lost in Translation, with memorable moviegoing experiences few and far in between, but Into the Wild was worth the wait.

4 stars (out of 4)