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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rated by buyers R (Restricted)
Type of bind: DVD
Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
EAN num: 0097363481249
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Paramount
Manufacturer: Paramount
Quantity: 1
Publishing house: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 04, 2008
Running Time: 148 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 236
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: September 21, 2007
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
This is the true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch). Freshly graduated from college with a promising future ahead McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people -- a fearless risk-taker who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature.System Requirements:Running Time: 148 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMING OF AGE Rated by buyers R UPC: 097363481249 Manufacturer No: 348124
Amazon.com:
A superb cast and an even-handed treatment of a true story buoy Into the Wild, Sean Penn's screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer's bestselling book. Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, scion of a prosperous but troubled family who, after graduating from Atlanta's Emory University in the early 1990s, decides to chuck it all and become a self-styled 'aesthetic voyager' in search of 'ultimate freedom.' He certainly doesn't do it halfway: after donating his substantial savings account to charity and literally torching the rest of his cash, McCandless changes his name (to 'Alexander Supertramp'), abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his bickering, clueless parents and Jena Malone as his baffled but loving sister, who relates much of the backstory in voice-over), and hits the road, bound for the Alaskan bush and determined not to be found. For the subsequent two years he lives the life of a vagabond, working a few odd jobs, kayaking through the Grand Canyon into Mexico, landing on L.A.'s Skid Row, and turning his back on everyone who tried to befriends him (including Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as two kindly, middle-aged hippies and Hal Holbrook in a deeply affecting performance as an old widower who tries to take 'Alex' under his wing). Penn, who directed and wrote the screenplay, alternates these interludes with scenes depicting McCandless' Alaskan idyll--which soon turns out be not so idyllic after all. Settling into an abandoned school bus, he manages to sustain himself for a while, shooting small game (and one very large moose), reading, and recording his existential musings on paper. But when the harsh realities of life in the wilderness set in, our boy finds himself well out of his depth, not just ill-prepared for the rigors of day to day survival but realizing the importance of the very thing he wanted to escape--namely, human relationships. It'd be easy to either idealize McCandless as a genuinely free spirit, unencumbered by the societal strictures that tie the rest of us down, or else dismiss him as a hopelessly callow naïf, a fool whose disdain for practical realities ultimately doomed him. Into the Wild does neither, for the most part telling the tale with an admirable lack of cheap sentiment and leaving us to decide for ourselves. --Sam Graham
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
I may have liked this movie for different reasons than some of the other reviewers. I didn't necessarily find it inspiring or particularly beautiful, but I did think it was very intelligent, thought provoking, consistent, and well directed/acted. It's basically a film about independence and freedom, and how those can be terrible, isolating things when taken to the extreme. For those who thought the minor characters were too distracting, try to think about them in that context.
It's almost like the minor characters are there to warn the main character that even though living your own life is great, a lack of human interaction makes that freedom painful. These are lessons he fails to realize at every turn, whomever he meets, (instead he feels like he is there to enlighten them) and this selfish interpretation of independence is his tragedy.
Think about why he dies: not only has he tried to do everything himself, which is a mistake on this kind of trip, (again, there were warning signs, like he should have figured this out when the moose killing thing went bad) but he's either so devoted to his dream or so frightened to go back and face the family he's running away from that there is nowhere to run to anymore. I guess living by independence means dying by it.
There's a key scene in the middle, where he goes to the homeless shelter in LA, then sees himself getting sucked into the upper middle class hypocrisy he hates. Even though this is irrational -- if he can strike out on his own with a backpack, he can also do so in a more socially integrated way -- he turns away from going back to his old name. He does realize eventually that it was a mistake, but like all tragic figures, it is only after it is too late to change anything.
I think most people knew a guy like this in college, the upper middle class "rebel" who could have done anything and then took to the road after graduation, but eventually came back to sell out and work on wall street. maybe that's why this book was so popular -- because this guy took it to the extreme and he died, thus reinforcing others' decisions to rebel a little, but then run back home to mommy and daddy. Put in that way, the people who like the book and film for these reasons don't come across so well.
Truly a provocative and interesting film -- those are just my thoughts, but I think you should see it and decide for yourself.
Rated by buyers 
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Into the Wild has been in my friend's DVD player for about a month. She has been watching it constantly. I finally got a chance to see for myself, and found it to be a fascinating and compelling story, based on a real person, who may have been tilting at windmills like Don Quixote in his quest for freedom and survival in the extremes of wild nature, but nevertheless, touched the lives of all he encountered along the way.
Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) has just graduated from college, with excellent grades, but instead of either graduate school or a career, he chooses instead to go into the wild. He donates his trust fund to charity, burns his money, and abandons his car. He renames himself Alexander Supertramp, and begins his quest to live up to his new name. His parents, Walt and Billie McCandless (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt) are bewildered and hire an investigator to find him, but to no avail. His sister Carine, who also serves as an additional narrator, is hurt that he doesn't call her, either. But she offers insight into what may have driven him off, comparing him to fine crystal that nevertheless is fragile and needs protection.
Along the way he meets hippies Rainey & Jan Burres (Brian Dierker and Catherine Keener). Later, he works on a farm for Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn). He also befriends lonely leather engraver Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). He kayaks all the way to Mexico and back, rides the rails, visits Slab City in the desert, works in a fast food restaurant, always working towards his goal of surviving a harsh winter in the wilds of Alaska. He reaches Alaska and makes his final stand in an abandoned bus...
Into the Wild was directed by Sean Penn. Great job, Sean. He waited 10 years to make the film, making sure that he had the approval and support of the McCandless family. Everything was filmed on location, and Sean Penn takes full advantage with excellent cinematography. Some of the cast were the actual people from the real life story, such as Jim Gallien, who gives the wanderer boots as he goes into the wild. Brian Deirker was originally hired as a technical consultant for the river rafting, but at Emile Hirsch's suggestion, cast in the role of hippie motorhomer Rainey.
It features music composed and performed by Eddie Vedder. When Sean Penn called and asked him to do it, he agreed on the spot. I am not a fan of Pearl Jam, mainly because of Vedder's voice, which sounds phoney and cartoonish. But he has really matured, and there is just a touch of the cartoonishness in his voice to give it a bit of character and identity. The music is excellent, great acoustic guitar and the singing surprisingly good, it really adds to the film experience. Vedder does the bulk of the music, but there are also a few songs by Kaki King, some others, and of course we get to hear Roger Miller's "King of the Road," which is paraphrased and quoted in the final manifesto.
Besides the music, there are also quotes from literature on title cards between scenes, such as:
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods
(from Childe Harold, Canto iv, Verse 178)
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
-- Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
The cast was all really good, with the well known actors and unknowns alike seeming totally authentic. I especially liked Vince Vaughn as someone who both mocks and admires the young man's ambitions. "Can't be juggling blood and fire all the time!"
Also there is a great encounter with Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook). The lonely old man looks askance at Supertramp's vagabond lifestyle, but considers his challenge to get out of his workshop and see the world. The encounter offers director Sean Penn a great chance for his protagonist to illustrate his saga by carving his story onto a leather belt:
Ron Franz: What does the "N" stand for?
Christopher McCandless: North.
Ron Franz: [sounding surprised and frustrated] Alaska?
Once he reaches Alaska, he continues carving out his story on a board he finds in the 'Magic Bus.'
Christopher McCandless: Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
This movie is a great look at the rebellion and confusion of a person out of college and tired of the pressures and conformity of society. It brings a beautiful and in-depth look into the mind of a young man not sure what he wants to do with is life, but pretty sure what he doesn't want. I thought it was phenomenal especially if you wonder if the grass is greener on this other side of untamed life. A young male's mind will relate with his stuggles and envy his passion for pursuing his "truth." A bit long for some, I absolutely enjoyed this wonder film and at this point in my life, I couldn't relate more.
Rated by buyers 
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This is a great movie and its merits as a film have been well covered by many posts here. But this special "collector's edition" of a "two-disc" DVD is inexcusable. A five star film in a two-star DVD. In fact I gave this special edition two stars ONLY because the film is great. But the DVD offerings here are infantile and quite frankly a rip off. There are no special features on the very first disc along with the movie. And the second disc only has two brief documentaries on the making of and some of the characters. Big deal. Granted, it's more than the original version of the DVD, but this is a rip. Oh, don't forget, they've got a trailer on the second disc. Yippie! Thank goodness I bought this DVD double-disc edition used or I'd be REALLY mad if I had paid full price. No commentaries, no real insight into Chris McCandless other than we do see his real parents in a couple shots. The "Experience" doc is good, but way too short. They could have added so much more. What a disappointment and a way to sell short a film and story that deserved and could have had so much more on this DVD. Lame.
Rated by buyers 
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Heard so much about this movie, not that's time spent I can never get back.
I know many people consider this a great spiritual journey, and I'll get blasted for "not getting it." But I found the main character naive unrealistic in his views. Unfortunately he paid the ultimate price for his lack of understanding.
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