Into the Wild (4½ Stars)

I have an ever growing list of films that I intend to rewatch, but that didn't stop me from grabbing this film from my shelf today. I had a good reason. Three days ago there was an article in the BBC about the so-called "Magic Bus" shown in the film. It was abandoned in an open field in Alaska some time between 1960 and 1970. In 1992 the hermit backpacker Chris McCandless took shelter in the bus and lived in it until he died, 113 days later. In 2007 the film "Into the Wild" was made, using a very realistic imitation of the bus. (It would have been too expensive to film at the location of the real bus). This made it popular as a tourist attraction. Since the bus can only be accessed by wading through a river, it's a dangerous place to visit. There have been multiple deaths in the last ten years. Now the US army has removed the bus. The message is simple: Stay away!

What motivated Christopher McCandless aka Alexander Supertramp to drop out of society? Based on the evidence of the film, it was because he was disgusted with the evils of humanity. Why are people bad to one another, day in day out? It doesn't make sense. If you're bad to them, they'll be bad back to you. It's one long domino chain of evil.

I like to think that the chain stops with me. I have many faults, especially my pride, but I don't repay evil with evil. Recently a person I've always considered a good friend unleashed a tirade of hatred against me on Facebook, accusing me of hate speech, though unable to prove it. He unfriended me with the sole purpose of being able to continue lying about me without giving me a chance to reply. Do I yell back at him? No. I repay evil with good, in an attempt to reach his heart.

Chris was on the road for two years, but it was the final 113 days that killed him. Maybe he could have remained in the Not-So-Wild. You can find more love among hippies than in the city, but it's still not a perfect life. Even hippies have relationship problems.

Chris could have found romance with the hippie girl Tracy. He turned her down because she was too young, only 16. He should have realised that age is only a construct invented by the outside world, not something for hippies to worry about. It wasn't until the end of his life that he wrote the words:

"Happiness is only real when shared".

Does that mean that he realised that he'd never really been happy? That would be a sad conclusion to make at the end of his wonderful life. At the end of his life he was suffering, but that wasn't because he was lonely; it was because he was struggling to survive. If he'd been able to live alone in comfort, maybe that would have made him happy.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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