If you are someone who loves simple things in life and appreciates the beauty of nature, you will dig this movie. You will do more, if you do not beleive in the concept of society. However, if you don’t belong to either of the categories, you will apprecaite it anyway.

Directed by Sean Penn, this movie got nominated for 2 Oscars and you wouldn’t wonder why. The movie as a narrative by his sister, is about Chris McCandless who shuns the conventional life ahead of him, which includes donating his college fund to charity and further education at Harvard, only to travel Alaska.  An adventurer at heart, or more so an “aesthetic adventurer” as proclaimed by himself, he does so to get away from his family and society to find solace and joy in nature.

As he begins his journey, the voyager in him gets a pseudo name “Alexander Supertramp” and his life is aptly divided into 5 parts starting from Birth, followed by adolescence, manhood, family and getting wisdom as the last stage. During this journey, he meets people from various stratas of life which includ a hippie family,  a guy in his 40s, a teenage who develops a crush on him and an old man. Alex leaves an impact on everyone and becomes a prt of their family even though for a short while, however you only wish that he was a little less stoic when dealing with people especially with the old man. Everyone in the movie has played his character with sheer ease and moulds in so easily to set the mood. Eddie Vedder’s music only adds to the theme of the movie where each song fits to the situation and adds value, my favourite being “Guaranteed”.

The end of the movie is tragic but the movie is hardly so and it does get you thinking, more so as it based on a real life story. As he gets to THE place, he realises that life isn’t as rosy. Some of the scenes are quite depressing especially where out of starvation and after having consumed the poisonous plant, he is completely helpess and is void of any reaction to the bear, which could have easily been his next meal.

I am in complete awe of the movie however what I failed to understand was the climax. Since it is based on real life, it can’t be questioned.  However you do feel a little preplexed. Just before he is about to die, he mentions that “happiness real only when shared” which totally contadicts the reason for his journey and that is solitude: to get away from the hustle bustle. More so, it is said shortly after he mentions that “relatrionships are not the only source of happiness”.  So is it the case of epiphany or does he realise that the path he chose wasn’t the right one or was the director trying to say too many things at the same time ?

The movie has many dialogues worth remembering, my favourite being “Sometimes in life, it is not necessary to be strong but to feel strong