Into the Wild

The audience gets closer to the protagonist by slowly uncovering his childhood in a dysfunctional family. At the beginning, they might feel cold towards him, especially for his overly radical outsider opinion and reluctance to accept anything from consumerist reality. As a viewer, however, I was able to overcome this coldness towards Chris and ended up with tears in my eyes. Into the Wild is a wise, psychologically complex film that boldly explores deep existential questions. Moreover, it is beautiful. And Sean Penn is a genius. I consider his feeling-based portrayal of Los Angeles to be the second best scene of the film (behind only the brilliantly edited ending). (04/29/2008)

Sean Penn is mainly known as an actor, although it is definitely worth getting to know his directing work as well. Even if not the whole film, "Into the Wild" is definitely a movie that can captivate. It's not so much because you will agree with the hero, I mean, I think a lot of us will just think that he is an idiot, but it is still worth considering what message is contained in the film. It is not an empty movie. Reflect on who you are. Returning to nature is a profound metaphor. But you will find something there, something deep inside you, something hidden. Perhaps each of us should go through a similar journey to realize what is important here. But who among us has the courage to do that? I should probably stop before I start philosophizing too much. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/04/jumper-babel-kung-fu-divocina-miami.html (02/17/2013)

“The freedom and simple beauty is too good to pass up.” A dream come true for every viewer with the soul of an adventurer and traveller. I had long since grown out of radical rebellion against the system (after all, even Christopher did not despise the achievements of civilization – an abandoned bus, where he stretched out on a dusty mattress with gusto), but due to his family circumstances, I understood his motivation and somewhat envied his unrestrained travel. Sean Penn filmed it very well, with beautiful cinematography, breathtaking scenery and the likeable hippies Christopher met on his journey. And there aren't many musicians whose songs would fit better than Pearl Jam’s frontman Eddie Vedder, also a free-thinker, so I had no problem believing the lyrics. The criticism of the light construction of the screenplay vanished at the very end, when it was revealed that the story was based on the diary of a real character. An almost out of the blue great performance by Emil Hirsch. (03/07/2008)

I didn't expect such boredom. The transformation of the protagonist was impressive and the music that accompanied him on his journey was nice, but what did it matter when I didn't believe a single one of his deep thoughts, which sounded only like godforsaken phrases in my ears, and when I was already very unpleasantly bored after an hour. The strangest thing of all, however, is that I like melancholic films with a similarly slow pace and pensive atmosphere. This one certainly won't be one of them. (09/05/2015)

I wish it was freer and intellectually deeper. At times I felt that Penn actually says that living without anything in the wilderness like a homeless person is actually the best thing you can do, and that you will know what life is only if you do so, no matter the time, and that is something I cannot identify with. The emotions are fine, and there are quite a few of them, and it's interesting that the longer you look at it, the more you like the main character – or rather, it's entertaining to watch his mental development and transformation. It's a conscious film, I just would have preferred it to be in a slightly different direction – or maybe have the attributes rearranged differently, if you will. Dreamers and laid-back people will watch this over a beer and chuckle in delight. Pragmatists and realists would rather watch something like American Gangster, which is also a journey. (10/27/2014)