review of Into the wild

Media Studies review of ‘ Into the Wild’

‘ Into the Wild’ is a magnificent film by acclaimed actor and director Sean Penn. It details the life story and wild adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man with a college education who decides to ditch it all for a country-wide exploration of nature. Along the way he meets: friendly hippies’ shameless nudists’ a teenage girl with a crush and perhaps the most significant ‘ Ron Franz’ portrayed by Hal Halbrook. However the audience is led to believe that the whole film is not about an adventure but about Christopher escaping from his abusive and violent past {courtesy of his unloving parents}. Sean Penn hits a nerve with audiences as we see Christopher unite with Ron Franz in what becomes the most important relationship of the film as we learn from the clever Sean Penn through context that family is important. Audiences will mourn the old man’s loss of his wife and child and his honorary Grandson Christopher through his tremendous acting ability and great close up angle shots. The audience will also be affected by the trouble Christopher overcomes and eventually succumbs to. In conclusion Sean Penn has giving us a Adventure film that has great scenery but with close up shots he shows the real Christopher McCandless’s message that he learned from the great scenery and that is happiness that been represented by the elegant view of nature in the film must be shared to exist.