Saw many movies. Transporter 3 was a waste. Fashion was bland. Oye Lucky!Lucky Oye! was dark and somewhat arty cinema.
But one movie made my vacation the end of the year.
Sean Penn's Into The Wild.
The story is so awe-inspiring and so gripping it really made me think. It's what I'd call a thinking man's movie.
With not too many big star names except for Vince Vaughn, the story revolves around the life of Christopher Mc Candless (played by Emile Hirsch), a brilliant student who just graduates and is expected to go to Harvard for studying law. But guess what- he spends all of his college fund by giving it to charity and goes hitchhiking across America and finally goes to camp in Alaska.
You'd think that's irresponsible of him. But this guy has got his issues. His father is a big money lover. He abuses his wife for his career gets into his family life and all the greed makes them miserable. He hates his parents for not telling him that his father was actually married to another woman and had kids with her, thus making them bastard children. The only person he sympathizes with is his sister, who narrates his story and ideals.
He feels human beings get joy only from relationships, like love and family and friends. He believes he can achieve the same in his experiences of life. Which is why he goes on this roller-coaster ride of tramping across America. His mind is troubled, but his saying has a lot of truth in it. The satisfaction his father got from money was all unreal as he realized it, so he burns the little money he has and goes absolutely broke. Just to see if he'd survive. To be primeval, to be how we were naturally. He discovers beautiful lands and does a whole lot of things like travelling with hippies, illegally boarding goods trains, canoeing down to the Gulf of Mexico.
And finally, he reaches his dream destination: Alaska, to live in the wild, like Jonathan Swift's Robinson Crusoe, only voluntarily.
THE STORY IS A REAL LIFE ONE!!!!
Can you believe that! The guy did this for real!
Sadly, he was found dead in an abandoned bus he'd made his shelter. Died of poisoning caused by eating a local potato root that blocks digestion, thus making him starve to his death.
You'd wonder: was all his plans and dreams in vain? Was he unrealistic?
To tell you the truth, I feel he did what he felt he should. And thats great. Whatever he achieved was much more than anything he'd get out of Harvard. That's the truth. He lived a more full life than a fellowmate who went on to pursue higher studies and finally got into the cycle of debt, money, work, raising family and stress. So what could possibly be our purpose in life? We'd appreciate our life better. We'd realize how precious our time is. How much there is to do in life. How trivial the things we are worried with really are. THIS BRINGS OUT THE TRUTH.
Truth, as they say, will set you free.
That's exactly was Christopher Mc Candless was.
May his soul rest in peace.
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