Author: Jon Krakauer

Year: 1996

Rating: 4/5

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Director: Sean Penn

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, William Hurt, Jim Gallien

Rated: 15

Rating: 5/5

I first came across this book after watching the film back in May. I had no idea what I was in store for when I sat down to watch the film and had never heard of Chis McCandless. All I knew was that Sean Penn had written the screenplay and directed it, Emile Hirsch starred in it, and it had been hailed by the critics since it started hitting the festivals.

What I saw was a moving story about a young man, tired and anoyed of the society he’d been raised in, determined to change all that. Chris McCandless had been raised in a well-to-do upper-middle-class family. Throughout his adolescence he was popular, good-looking, and got excellent grades in school and college. After he graduated from Emory University in 1990, he donated his savings for further education to Oxfam charity, packed up a few books, clothes, and food, and took to the road. He didn’t tell his family or friends where he was going: To them, he had simply disappeared.

This is where the film begins to differ from the book and I’ll elaborate on that in a minute. What happened to Chris during the next couple of years is an extraordinary story to hear. Travelling all around the United States (and even hitting Mexico), McCandless lived as ‘Alexander Supertramp’, alternating between having the odd job here and there and having little money, food, or human contact. His dream was to travel to Alaska and live off the land, having been inspired by his favourite author, Jack London. He was tired of the materialistic, hypocritical and narcissitic society his parents had created around him and feared that he’d be expected to become part of it and contribute to corporate America. His dream was to live the simple life, hunting and growing his own food, spending enough time to reflect on the big questions rather than the ridiculous little ones.

After two years of travelling the states, he finally made it to Alaska. The last person to see him alive was Jim Gallien, a man who gave him a ride to the Stampede Trail, and persuaded ‘Alex’ to take Gallien’s rubber boots and sandwiches after noticing how little equipped the young man was to survive in the wilderness alone. The truth was, Chris McCandless had only taken a 10-pound bag of rice and a semi-automatic rifle with 400 rounds with him. He had a few pieces of camping equipment and a few books on wild plants but nothing else. He assumed he could hunt for his own food and live off what grew on the land.

The full details of what happened to him during the 4 months he spent in Alaska is debatable. All that we have to guess from is some of McCandless’ journal entries and a few photographs he took of himself. The fact remains that on September 6, 1992, his body was found in a sleeping bag in an abandoned bus (he lived in for the duration of his stay) weighing approximately 67 pounds. The official cause of death was starvation but the factors contrubting to his death remains debatable. From his journal entries, we can determine that after a few months, McCandless decided to hitchhike out of the wild but found the trail blocked by Teklanika River, which had raised since he crossed it in April. There have been a number of people who have suggested that he may have injured himself, meaning he couldn’t go out to hunt for food. Krakauer even suggests, in the book, that McCandless ingested poisonous seeds which was the cause for eventual starvation. The film also follows Krakauer’s theory as we see McCandless unable to move very much in order to feed himself or gather water. (In reality laboratory testing concluded that while McCandless may have ingested the seeds, there were no toxins found in his body.)

The film itself was what inspired me to take a week away from my city life and head to the highlands for some space away from people. While I don’t agree with McCandless’ reckless abandonment of his family and refusal to tell anyone where he was (or whether he was alive), I respect his need to get out there, do what he wanted, and change his life. He was determined to get away from the shallowness of his parents’ lives and live the idealistic way he knew he could. I think any young person feels that way.

The film is beautifully made. So touching and moving. I hope to see more of Sean Penn’s work as a director because he certainly seems to know what he’s doing. Emile Hircsh gives the performance of his life: You can really see that he put his heart and soul into this film. The images of Alaska captured on film are absolutely breathtaking and the supporting cast also make a terrific contribution. The film inspired me and immediately made it to my top five favourites.

I bought the book the day before I set off for the highlands and read it while I was away. While it’s easy to see that the film sticks closely to the basic known facts (Chris was alone a lot of the time so kudos for the filmmakers for the amount of guesswork they had to do), the book gives us the opportunity to explore more about McCandless’ life that we didn’t know: More of his family history is explained and the resentment he felt toward his parents is elaborated on; Pieces of his journal entries are quoted so we can finally get under the skin of who McCandless really was; Further information on how his family coped during the two years he was missing is explained (They hired a private investigator who somehow managed to miss the fact that Chris left his name and social security number with every job he took during those two years); And Krakauer also goes into detail about a few more well-documented young men throughout history who also disappeared in search of something ‘more.’

It’s clear that McCandless’ story is a controversial one. There are those who say he was a silly, spoiled brat for not telling his family where he was and that he was reckless for not going into the Alaskan wilderness more prepared. Then there are those who see him as a source of inspiration for doing everything you’ve ever wanted in life, no matter who tries to stop you. I’m somewhere in the middle. While I also see his tale as one of inspiration, I do wish he’d been better equipped and known a lot more about hunting before he went into the wild. I also can’t imagine how his family must have felt – that ‘not knowing’ must be the worst feeling in the world – but I can also understand why he resented his parents and probably thought they didn’t deserve or wouldn’t care enough to want to know where he was (you have to read the book to really understand the problems in the family).