“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon for each day to have a new and different sun”
– Christopher McCandless, 1992.
Into the Wild follows the true story of a troubled young adult Christopher McCandless seeking to emancipate himself from modern society. In 1992, he hitchhikes through America to the wildlands of Alaska. His aim is to live simply off the land seeking only a blank space on the map.
Through the extracts of his diary, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt pieced together the details of this remarkable journey that was later adapted into film by Sean Penn.
The journey follows Christopher as he disassociates himself from his life and his family and heads off on his adventure to Alaska. Embracing each new encounter and adventure that crosses his path, it has many touching moments with the people he meets along the way.
In the final stages, we follow the perils and adversity he faces when he reaches the Alaskan wilderness when the reality and his ideals are challenged.
It is a heart-wrenching and an inspirational story of this young man motivated by adventure with a never failing determination to continue on at all costs to reach his goal of solitude and peace. Beyond any shortfalls of the character, Into the Wild reminds of the beauty travel offers and how each experience is precious.
Watching the beautiful scenery in the film set in Denali National Park, reminded me of the remote untouched wilderness in Alaska. A place to get away from normal life and get lost in your thoughts.
“Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did. The life and simple beauty of it is too good to pass up.”
– Christopher McCandless, 1992.
