Into The Wild

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; / There is a rapture on the lonely shore; / There is society, where none intrudes, / By the deep sea, and music in its roar; / I love not man the less, but Nature more... / ”

At some point in the history of human civilization, the society became more important than the individual, more important than individual rights, individual freedom, and, most importantly, individual happiness. They say that man is a social animal. Well, that’s exactly what he is, but only to an extent. What they forgot to say is that, more than an animal, man is an individual human being, a private person first. Man is, above all, a man. Ideally speaking, that is.

In the present social structure, all of us have two roads in front of us, one overcrowded, the other less frequented. Both of these roads lead to death. But the destination does not count; it is the journey that matters. While the overcrowded road has flowerbeds of social acceptance with thorns of individual negation, its solitary parallel is riddled with thorns of social exclusion and flowers of individual freedom. There is hardly any midway between these two paths. Quite sadly, there is none.

The road you opt for in life decides the kind of person you become. Nothing here is easier or more difficult. It’s more about knowledge, intellectuality and ideas. You can either transform yourself to have company or you can transform your world and have freedom. The choice of course is difficult to make. But it is also the important choice that one is got to make in life.

“Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.”

Christopher McCandless, the protagonist of Into The Wild (2007), chooses the road less taken. After graduating from college with some excellent A’s, Chris decides to flee civilization to go into the wild. He just leaves, without informing anyone, without knowing what he is going to find. He donates a large portion of his money to charity, burns the rest of it, and on his feet, with some most basic things for company, he just escapes. From the society, into the wild.

“It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom.”

When the premise is as interesting as this, you morosely hope that the rest does not disappoint you. This movie’s rest, thank god, does not. It only in fact draws you into it with its sheer beauty, both visual and verbal. While Sean Penn’s direction is as impressive as his two Oscar winning performances (one deserved, other not so much), Emile Hirsch’s performance is top-notch too. But it is perhaps the dialogues that have the largest contribution to make in the movie’s high aesthetic quality.

“The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.”

The character of McCandless has been criticized for being an escapist, a loser if you may. After all, how wise is it to run away from the world in case you are sick of it? Should you not instead stay and attempt to transform it, make it better somehow? But how powerful is an individual against the whole grain of society? And should you not move on when you perceive circumstances to be hopeless? Is it not your right to do what you want, notwithstanding anything, except a concern for others’ peace and happiness? The answers are not really easy, disliking this movie less so.

“Society, man! You know, society! Cause, you know what I don't understand? I don't understand why people, why every fucking person is so bad to each other so fucking often. It doesn't make sense to me. Judgment. Control. All that, the whole spectrum.”

All in all, Into The Wild is a haunting experience, moving and influential. Many scenes just stay with you long after the credits have rolled and the soundtrack has ended. If you had loved the anti-materialist brand of nihilism of Fight Club, give Into The Wild’s awesomeness a try. You, like me, might just end up being more impressed.

“What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?”