Into the Wild (4½ Stars)

True Stories #23

Name: Chris McCandless

Lived: 12 February 1968 – 18 August 1992

Film dates: 1990 to 1992 (death)

Film made in 2007

Was Chris McCandless a genius or a madman? Most people would say the latter. I'm sure his family and friends thought he was mad. I'm in a small minority of those who respect what Chris did in the last two years of his life, even though I would never have attempted to imitate him.

In 1990 Chris graduated from Emory with a BSc in History and Anthropology. He told his parents we was planning to study Law at Harvard next. It's unclear whether he really intended to do this or was just telling a lie to keep his parents happy. He never went to Harvard. He didn't even return home with his parents. He remained on campus to finish his affairs, and then he drove due west, the opposite direction of his home. He abandoned his car at the side of Lake Mead in Arizona, removing the license plates to make the car harder to trace. He burnt his drivers license and his social security card, and he changed his name to Alexander Supertramp.

As far as possible, Alex (to use his new name) tried to live without money, but sometimes he needed to buy things, such as a kayak, so he took temporary jobs, such as a farm worker. His dream was to travel to Alaska and live in the wild, with nobody around him, but he made a very roundabout trip. He zigzagged across the USA, sleeping on freight trains, and finally rowed illegally into Mexico.

Several people have attempted to draw maps of his travels, and they don't all agree with one another. This is the map that I consider to be the most accurate, based on the film. I hope it's not too confusing.

Wherever Alex went he made friends. They were good friends who genuinely liked him, but he didn't treat them well. He didn't like to say goodbye, so he slipped away in the middle of the night.

Wayne was Alex's boss on the farm.

Mads was a Danish hippy camping on the banks of the Colorado.

Rainey was a hippy who travelled around the USA in the comfort of a mobile home. Alex could have learnt from him.

Tracy was the girl who could have been Alex's big love. Alex resisted her advances because she was only 16.

Leonard Knight was a man who lives in the desert preaching God's word to the hippy community at Slab City. In the film he plays himself.

This is Salvation Mountain, built and decorated by Leonard in his earlier years.

Of all the friends that Alex made, the closest was Ron Franz, an elderly leather worker. Ron loved Alex like a son and put him up for weeks, but Alex still attempted to leave his house in the middle of the night. Luckily Ron was a light sleeper. He insisted on driving Alex the next 100 miles of his journey to Alaska. Alex promised to visit Ron when he returned. But he never came back.

On arriving in Alaska Alex moved into an abandoned bus, which he called the magic bus. He lived from hunting wild animals. It was paradise for him. After nine weeks he intended to return to civilisation, but his path was blocked by a river which had grown wider because of the melting snow. Due to the lack of wild animals (and possibly the fact that he'd run out of bullets) he had to resort to eating berries. He poisoned himself and died after 113 days in Alaska.

Is "Into the Wild" an inspiration to coming generations to follow Chris McCandless into isolation, or a warning to stay at home in comfort? I don't think it will convince anyone to change his mind. The film will only reinforce the views someone already has. The only lesson that I would draw from it is to be more careful. If you really must do something as crazy as abandoning civilisation, make sure you have a Plan B in case things don't work out. You need a safety net.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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