The True Tragedy of 'Into The Wild'

What sort of life is a life lived alone? 

Potentially now more than ever, there is a universal desire to escape the modern world. Whether it be a retreat, an exotic excursion or simply a quiet night in alone, its safe to say that everyone has found themselves at work urging the days to pass so they can get away. The story of Chris McCandless, as adapted by Sean Penn in his 2007 directorial debut, shares this sentiment in its most extreme form. After graduating from Emory University, Chris (Emile Hirsch) donates almost all his savings to Oxfam, destroys all forms of identification and sets out on an adventure 'into the wild' without so much as a note for his parents and younger sister.

Before delving into the effects of Chris's disappearance on the McCandless family, Penn opens the film with shots of a picturesque Alaskan setting. Chris appears blissful in his isolation, the vast white of the landscape providing a backdrop to time spent reading books, writing diary entries and shooting deer. In this sense, the film's opening presents us with an idealised version of the life that Chris has dreamt up for himself.

But Penn quickly begins to question the idyll presented. In doing so, the film considers those Chris has left behind. Whilst their presentation is not particularly favourable, Walt (William Hurt) and Billie McCandless (Marcia Gay Harden) are clearly doting parents who believe their son is capable of great things. The genuine care that Chris's parents hold for him becomes strikingly apparent in a scene in which Billie wakes up in a cold sweat claiming she heard her estranged son's voice.

In Northern California, far from the concerns of his mother, Chris, who has renamed himself Alexander Supertramp, encounters the first of many new acquaintances in the form of Jan (Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian H. Dierker). In helping to rekindle the hippie couple's strained relationship, Chris fails to stray from his quest in favour of the meaningful connections he has made. Despite enjoying the simple pleasures of working for Wayne Westerberg's (Vince Vaughn) contract harvesting company Chris remains undeterred, insistent that Alaska is his destiny.  It seems that in spite the wealth of authentic connections he appears to have made, the myopic Chris still reveres a life of solitude.

The most poignant demonstration of Chris' nearsightedness occurs in the film's final third. After a series of less euphoric interactions with nature, losing his kayak in a dust storm and being beaten by railroad police, Chris finds himself in Salton City in the Imperial Valley, where he meets Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook), a retired U.S. army soldier. Recounting the loss of his family, Ron's character serves almost as Chris's final warning, a cautionary tale of the dangers that come with isolation. Chris' pre-death philosophy of life can be summed up in his response to Ron after the old man says he will miss him when he leaves: 'I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships'.

Flash forward to the film's ending and Chris seems to reject this belief entirely. As his food supply dwindles and the harsh Alaskan winter ensues, Chris, for the first time, expresses doubt at leaving his family behind. He hurriedly writes in his diary 'happiness only real when shared' as, after mistakenly eating a poisonous root, he enters his sleeping bag to die. As the life leaves his eyes, we hear Chris's final lines play over the scene in which he envisions running back into the arms of his family asking 'would you see then what I see now?'

In the end, it is Chris's grand ambition that proves to be his tragic hamartia. He dies alone and with regret. A flaw present in many of us is the tendency to allow our goals to obscure the present. It is in this way that, even when the technology of our current world facilitates communication on a never-before-seen scale, we often neglect to see the importance of human connection. No matter how beautiful our surroundings or how colossal our goals, the true joy of life can only be fully realised once it is shared with someone else. Sean Penn's 'Into The Wild' reminds us that regardless of where we hope to end up, we should be grateful for the people we meet along the way.