Feature: A+

Some college graduates head straight out into the working world, diploma and resume in hand. For others, graduate school or some other career building path. Not Chris McCandless. After Graduating from Emory University in 1990, McCandless donated all of his money to charity, drove out to the western half of the country, abandoned his car, his family, his identity, and society ultimately fulfilling a dream of living off the wild in Alaska. He would be found dead in August of 1992.

Emile Hirsch plays McCandless in Into the Wild, a film based on the book of the same name authored by Jon Krakauer, about a true story of a young man lured by the mystique of the Alaskan preserve and desire to live vicariously off nature, turning his back on society. The turning point of his life came on a trip to California to meet up with family friends who exposed his parents’ (Wlliam Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) lies and secrets. Without leaving any kind of note or explanation McCandless changed his name to Alexander Supertramp and began to hitchhike from Arizona, to South Dakota, paddle down the Colorado River through to Mexico, and back up before his final destination.

Into the Wild is less about McCandless becoming one with nature though and more about the people he meets along the way, how he affects them and how they will ultimately affect him. In Arizona he meets a hippy couple Jan (Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian Dierker), in Carthage, South Dakota, he is touched by the kindness and generosity of wheat harvester Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughan), a liberal Copenhagen couple in the Grand Canyon, in the Slabs of California a young girl named Tracy (Kristen Stewart), and finally a cranky old man named Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook).

Sean Penn wrote the screenplay and directs the story in a chronological structure with flash-forwards of his final weeks in Alaska spread throughout the film. Holes of his family’s reaction are filled by Chris’ sister, Carine (played Jena Malone but were written by the actual Carine McCandless) narrating missing pieces that shaped this bold departure from society. We are able to peer into McCandless’ mind through entries scribed in his journal and through powerful music and lyrics by Pearl Jam front man, Eddie Vedder. The tapestry and anticipation of Into the Wild beautifully builds to those suspenseful weeks what would be his final days.

Equally absorbing was Hirsch’s performance, well beyond his years. He gave up his mind, body and soul and showed an amazing personal commitment to the role allowing viewers to see a glimpse of who Chris McCandless (and Alexander Supertramp) was and why he chose to make this decision. While difficult to place oneself in McCandless’ journey, Hirsch convincing turn gives the audience a better understanding of a man who is often misinterpreted as suicidal or stupid. When McCandless finally does reach Alaska, he climbs to the top of a rocky hill and is vaulted to natural spectacle too awesome for words to describe. Combined with Vedder’s songs is a moment of exhilarating and cathartic release. With the camera spinning in nature’s glory, the audience too is inspired, but the toll of the Alaskan terrain can be hard on novices. Foregoing maps and experience in big game hunting, McCandless grows weaker and loses a massive amount of weight for a fit individual. He attempts to end the Alaskan but is too weak to cross the river he originally trekked to get there. Stranded, lonely and trapped, in his final journal entry he tragically realizes what he was so quick to take for granted, is the one thing he misses the most.

Presentation: B+

Packaging is the standardized blu-ray case which is perfect for this film. After loading up the disc, you’re welcomed to a scrapbook collage of scenes from the film and journal entries scrolling by with Eddie Vedder humming a tune that really puts you in the mood to see a contemplative road movie. For an independent venture as true to the story as it was, it was nice to see the effort put towards a design element that pairs nicely with the film. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Video: A

We get a beautiful high definition 1080p VC-1 encoded transfer that’s absent of any noticeable artifacts or blemishes. All of the amazing landscapes such as the Grand Canyon, the varied terrain of Alaska can overwhelm you. Keep in mind though that this is not a travel documentary where you are meant to see each and every rock. This is a feature film and is shot as such with a fine level of film grain maintained and artful cinematography by Eric Gautier. Blacks are truly deep and flesh-tones are represented accurately and warm.

Audio: A+

It’s stated in the extras how sound was recorded on production with very little foley work and to those familiar with sound in movies know how difficult it is to capture sound so you don’t have to record it after the filming but this film is a testament to sound mixer, Edward Tise. It’s a very subtle detail to notice and so often DVDs and blu-rays are often judged on how loud they are, but audiophiles appreciate the softer details. There’s no need to raise the volume in Hal Holbrook’s final scene with Hirsch in the movie, everything from the truck’s purring tailpipe to Holbrook’s emotional broken words are captured. To go from scenes like this to the awesome power of Vedder’s songs can be very moving. This is a dynamite audio mix that sends some sound effects to the rears like the water rippling in river scenes but the earthy, folk sound of the score and soundtrack will leave an impression. The blu-ray strangely defaults to the Dolby Digital track so make sure to choose the English 5.1 Dolby True-HD lossless audio track. Also available are the English, French, and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks.

Extras: C+

Two well-produced standard definition featurettes (available with white subtitles) headline the supplemental material on the blu-ray reveal the actual experience of filming a movie like this and how Penn came to be chosen as the director of the film which had been long in pre-production development due to the respect of the family’s wishes.

The first, Into the Wild: The Story, The Characters (21:54) delves into Sean Penn trying to capture a boy transforming into a man, casting the people McCandless would meet in two years, and how Jon Krakauer identifying with McCandless and authoring the book, Into the Wild. Krakauer was motivated to dispel rumors he was a suicidal because he too went to Alaska to live out a solitary adventure and that McCandless was just misunderstood. It took eight months to shoot the film and Into the Wild Experience (17:20) touches upon that long stretch of putting Hirsch through the weight loss, wanting to capture the change in weather and seasons as well as revisiting the actual places McCandless traveled through and recreating the bus where he lived his final weeks. Rounding out the extras is the Theatrical Trailer (2:35) and is the only special in HD.

It’s understandable why Penn would prefer to let the film stand on its own but after a story like this, I found myself wanting to dig deeper into Chris McCandless’ story or Jon Krakauer’s experience. There’s potential for so much more, even to include the fine September 21, 2007 episode of Charlie Rose interview with Penn, Krakauer and Vedder or the Sundance Channel series Iconolasts Series 3 episode with Penn and Krakauer or even just have some of the real people talk about McCandless.

The Great Adventure– Overall Shock Value: A

Every facet of this film, the experience, the journey, the canvas of can be viewed as minute as Chris McCandless’ life and adventure but it can be opened as wide as an everyman rites of passage or an exploration of the western landscape of America. We are not all meant to take a risk as big or as bold as McCandless’ but his zest for life and pursuit of new experiences, despite the discomfort is something we could all borrow from. Something must be said about the bravery of the family to have his story be told this true, this honest and were lucky enough to find filmmakers who cared enough about the story to tell it the right way. Finally available on blu-ray, Into the Wild is a passionate effort by Sean Penn that will stir self-investigation and conversation, and showcases Emile Hirsch’s finest performance in his young career; highly-highly recommended.