Into the Wild tells the true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsh), a recent graduate of Emory College who, in 1990, turns his back on his parents, Walt (William Hurt) and Billie (Marcia Gay Harden), and their affluent life, and sets out on a cross-country journey. McCandless burns all the money in his wallet, gives his remaining college funds to Oxfam, and enters a two-year fugue in which he meets many memorable characters whose lives he influences, and who influence his. An avid reader of Tolstoy, Thoreau, and Jack London, McCandless uses their works to guide and justify his rejection of society and his return to nature. Seeking minimal human contact and not notifying his parents of his journey, McCandless lives as a hobo, experiencing nature in its rawest forms. Eventually, he ends up in Alaska.

Director Sean Penn, who wrote the screenplay based on Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book of the same title, has created the quintessential road movie. It’s a joy to follow McCandless on his journey, never knowing where he will end up or who he will meet. The story, told in flashbacks, begins with McCandless’s arrival in Alaska, toward the end of his journey, and his discovery of the "Magic Bus," an abandoned school bus in the Alaskan wilderness that serves as his home. McCandless’s Alaskan experiences are interspersed with his road adventures, which ultimately lead him north.

Penn does not paint a glamorous picture of life on the road. To some, the characters McCandless meets will be charming and fascinating; to others, they will seem pathetic losers whose advice is, at best, questionable. There are Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn), a farmer and distributor of illegal electronics gear; Jan Burres (Catherine Keener) and her boyfriend, Rainey (Brian Dierker), who live in a mobile home and become McCandless’s surrogate family; and Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook), a lonely old man who befriends McCandless and asks to adopt him, because Franz has no family or heirs to carry on his name. I suspect that Holbrook will be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this role.

Penn directs with a light hand; nothing seems contrived, forced, unnatural, or hurried, and the actors are given all the time they need to deliver their lines. The film’s documentary style is underlined by the narration by McCandless’s younger sister, Carine (Jena Malone), who recounts their childhood experiences and family history. Penn shot the film at the actual locations visited by McCandless, which gives Into the Wild an authenticity that sets and special effects cannot. Filming large, and focusing the camera on the actors only when they are speaking, Penn gives the scenery equal billing with the characters, and captures America’s grandeur and desolation.

Unlike most road movies, Into the Wild is not only about one person’s physical journey, but about the mental journey as well. Whether or not McCandless actually learned anything on his trip will be a topic for discussion; did he set out on the road for the right reasons, or was he doomed from the start? This unique, rewarding, and thought-provoking film is one of the year’s best.

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