Less than ten years ago we were treated with another "someone goes into the wilderness to find themselves" movie with Into The Wild. It's a good movie, but instead of coming off as poignant and important, the main character kinda has a Holden Caufield effect where the audience loses interest because they don't have the same ideals as Alexander Supertramp. He's a privileged white kid who is sick of the greed of his upper class family and wants to shed all of his material attachment to the world and live in the wild. He goes so far as to burn his money and his identification. While this may be considered a noble gesture by some... by others it's frowned upon. Flash forward to the end of 2014 and we're given another movie in the same vein only with a female protagonist in Wild. While the two films may share a few things in common, Wild is a vastly different, as well as far superior, film.
Instead of leaving her life behind in search of being a free person, Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) is on her own, hiking the Pacific Coast Trail in order to find out who she is as a woman. If this sounds a little douchy, let me explain. Cheryl was always the good girl. She was in school, she had part time jobs in order to help her family make ends meet. She lives with her mother, her best friend, after they've left her abusive father. Her mother was the person inspiring her to reach her goals and be the best woman she could possibly be. After an illness takes her mother at a very young age, Cheryl spirals into a world of promiscuous sex and drugs. This leads to her marriage ending and her life hitting rock bottom. Then, she discovers the Pacific Coast trail, a hiking trail that stretches from the border of Mexico in California to Canada. There, she will learn how to grieve properly for her mother and find out what kind of woman she wants to be. And while this doesn't sound like the harrowing journey Alexander Supertramp has, it is in no way less important.
It's a beautifully shot film, perfectly acted, and emotionally riveting. Witherspoon plays Cheryl the way that I assume the real Cheryl would've behaved on the journey. A woman who'd never hiked in her life, but had to finish the journey at any cost. She's on her own in the great unknown at her most vulnerable searching for answers that may or may not be out there. She travels from hundred degree desert heat to freezing cold snow-covered mountains, meeting many different types of hikers, hunters, people along the way. It's also written very well. Author/screenwriter Nick Hornby (About A Boy, High Fidelity) writes the character carefully. We watch intercut scenes of Cheryl's past leading up to her journey, and not in sequential order either. We get her divorce first. Then he relationship with her mother and brother. Then, her torrid childhood. Then, her downward spiral until it all comes together to paint a cohesive picture of a troubled woman. Her journey ends up making much sense and winds up being a much more important travel than anything else like this on film.
I was a huge fan of this film and it was one of those that had me thinking about it long after it was over. It far exceeded my expectations and it's a great film to watch at the end of the year in order to inspire those worried about their future in the upcoming year. Great movie.
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