Thoughts on Into the Wild

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter.

Sean Penn's 2007 adaptation of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book Into the Wild was released in September and wow, I can't remember the last time I was as moved by a film. The true story of Christopher McCandless pierced me, not because of the skill and craft with which it was made, but because I identified with McCandless more than any other character I have ever encountered, fact or fiction.

I understand why he left his family and hitchhiked across the country, eventually into the freezing Alaskan wilderness. I understand his desire to get away from empty normalcy, to experience the ferocity and truth of an unbound world, the independence and "ultimate freedom" afforded by a solitary existence. I understand the disgust with sameness, consumerism, and ordinary life - being in love with the romantic idea of a footloose, rambling life. For a long time I have been discontent with my present placement on the globe, desiring travel and adventure. I'm always dreaming of getting away from the place I'm currently at, escaping to somewhere better, unknown...

The part about Into the Wild which hit me hardest and hurt the most was seeing how his desire to keep moving and not lay down roots caused pain to those around him. McCandless's drive to continue traveling, to break away from ordinary life, meant that every time he left a place, he tore out the hearts of the people there who loved him so much. His family were left with the heartbreak and torment of knowing that their son was out there somewhere in the world by himself, and he hadn't cared enough to tell them where he was going or even write to them. McCandless realized at the end of his life that his quest for isolation and truth had rendered him just that - isolated and left with the truth that "happiness isn't real unless it's shared."

Into the Wild is a finely-crafted film, a potent ode to a transcendent human yearning, and a beautiful elegy for a courageous young man whose story deserves to be told. It has helped to put a new lense over how I view my own life - consummation by wanderlust and constant focus on "getting away" means forgoing the essential human treasures of friends, family, companionship, and love. Questing for independence, we deny that which we really require - interdependence.