Into the Wild

Sean Penn is back behind the camera withan adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestsellingnonfiction book “Into the Wild”. Emile Hirschplays top student Christopher McCandless, whoafter graduating from Emory University in 1992,leaves his belongings, donates his savings tocharity and sets off on a classic journey intothe American West. He plans to hitchhike toAlaska and live in freedom and harmony withnature. But it’s a long way to travel and a lotharder than Christopher imagined. With a brightfuture in law school, why did he leave? That’sthe question his family puzzles as they grapplewith his shocking death. But there seems to beno answer, only a seeker who believes that truthand meaning wait for him in Alaska.“Into the Wild” is one of Penn’s best efforts asa director. Hirsch – known from movies such as “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” and“Lords of Dogtown” – is a natural. Together,they poignantly portray the young wayfarer’sstruggle with the ambiguous demands ofmodern society and his desire to break awayand live in utopian freedom.