Jon Krauer is an amazing adventure writer. I was traveling in Tibet and I met this Canadian-New Zealand couple. They told me about this great book, Into Thin Air- A personal account of the infamous 1996 Mount Everest disaster. Back than I was reading Into Thin Air in Kathmandu while waiting for my sister Charmaine to join me for 2 weeks. How timely is that for me to read about Everest in the Himalayas. I believe the location contributes to the excitement.
I finished reading Into Thin Air while I was halfway through Annapurna Circuit Trek. Click here (5th and 7th Apr 2007) When I got back to Kathmandu, I went to bookstores to search for everything about the 1996 disaster, then I chanced upon Jon's earlier work- Into The Wild. Somehow he like to title his books beginning with the word "Into".
Into The Wild is centred around a young man Chris McCandless. After completed college with impressive results, he decided to take off into the wild. He called it The Great Alaskan Adventure.
Unknown to his parents, Chris left without a word, though his sister Carine was inform of his plans. He threw away his wallet, cut his ID and ATM card into 2. Before he took off, he donated $USD 24,000 to charity. Lastly, to part with his possession, he deserted his broken down Datsun and burnt all his money.
I don't have intention to walk you thru the whole movie, but here's what I think of it.
My insights to the story was 2-fold. One is when I read the book. Two was when I watched the movie.
Thru the book, Chris was casted as a young man who doesn't agrees with how the world is. On top of that, he has an insatiable wanderlust to feed, which led him to his Great Alaskan plans. He finds happiness in the nature when he is immerse in the wild- Mountains, rivers, weather and animals. He delights that he doesn't have a single penny in his pocket. He live on plants and hunt for games for survival. I can relate to him on some levels. The joy of being one with nature, the feeling of being home, in a place where you felt you were created to be.
The movie sheds new insights to the character of Chris. Brilliantly directed by Sean Penn, he went to all the right source. Hooking up with Jon Krauer (who did his homework well in order write an accurate account of the life of Chris), they manage to convince the McCandless family to work with them on this film.
Most distinctly was Chris sister, Carine, whom Chris grew up with intimately. She lends her thoughts and feeling about her brother as it was narrated thruoout the film. Chris hated his parents. His parents lied to him. Dad got married before his parents got married and that fact suddenly made Chris realize he was a bastard: an illegitimate child. And that also makes her mom a mistress.
Growing up, mom and dad frequently fight, not just an exchange of heart-piercing words, but also physical abuse. Dad has no respect for mom, often refer her as "woman".
Chris is bitter about life. His whole life is a lie. He hated society for its hypocrisy, lies and double standards. He hated how everyone is doing things because everyone else is doing it. "Job is a 21th century invention. I don't need a job", Chris told an old man.
I think to a certain extent, Chris is running away. Bitterness and hatred is the drive behind his running.
Let me tell you something else about Chris. One thing for sure, Chris is a survivor. We all are survivor but Chris is an exceptional good one. He survived in the urban- straights A's in college to secure a place in Havard, working in Mcdonald's, on a wheat field, live with gypsies. He survive in the wild- He hunt for games, he search for edible berries. And he is good with people. He make friends everywhere. People simply love him, I mean in the movie, people whom he met cries when he leaves. That says a lot about his people's skill.
Finally, Chris made enough money to get to Alaska were he spend years there. He did that not because he was a nerd or a loner or an outcast. He did that by choice. I think he went out to search for his soul, to reset his magnetic compass and to find his bearing in life. In the book Wild at Heart, John Eldredge, a Christian writer, talks about what is inside a men's heart. And the way to find that out is to go into the wild.
Not all is gloomy and dark. There are some light moments too. This is my fav. Chris said:
"I mean, You are really good. I mean you are like 100,000 times better than, like, any APPLES I've ever had. I'm not superman, I'm supertramp. You are SUPERAPPLE! You're so tasty, you are so organic, so natural. You are the apple of my eye!"
(Chris renamed himself as Alexander Supertramp during the time he wanders)
Chris adventure took a spiral turn- his rice supply was running low, games are rare to find. Then he found wild potatoes roots which is mistaken as edible. These poisonous wild plants eventually cause him to get weaker and weaker, his waistline thinner and thinner.
In his last moment, he made a realization. I think maybe he's ready to forgive his parents. He wrote in his diary, sign off as Christopher Johnson McCandless.
"Happiness is found when shared".
I totally agree with him.
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