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Hirsch Breaks Out 'Into The Wild'

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By CHRISTY LEMIRE, The Associated Press

Published: October 21, 2007

You probably don't know the name Emile Hirsch. Not yet at least.

He's a young, good-looking, up-and-coming actor who's been working steadily for the past few years now - he was the guy who lusted after Elisha Cuthbert in 'The Girl Next Door'; maybe that'll ring a bell.

All that should change, however, with 'Into the Wild,' and deservedly so.

Hirsch offers a tour de force as the doomed Christopher McCandless, whose restless wanderings in search of nature, beauty and truth left him dead in Alaska, starved and alone, at 24.

In adapting Jon Krakauer's 1998 best-seller of the same name, writer-director Sean Penn gives him a wealth of material to work with. Hirsch gets to be charming, passionate and idealistic but also impetuous, stubborn and self-righteous. Penn depicts this flawed figure with all the richness and complexity you'd find in the unforgiving Alaskan terrain, presenting McCandless in both his selflessness and selfishness without once judging him or turning him into a martyr.

At the same time, there's an innocence to 'Into the Wild,' with its notions about the purity of freedom, which harkens to films of the late 1960s like 'Easy Rider.' And Penn, working with cinematographer Eric Gautier ('The Motorcycle Diaries') and sometimes shooting his own footage, captures the grit and grandeur of this nation so vividly, he almost makes you want to chuck it all, too, and head for the open road.

Communing With The Wilderness

That's Chris' plan in 1990 after graduating from Emory University. He suggests to his status-conscious mom and dad (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt, both strong in just a few flashback glimpses) that he's interested in Harvard Law School, and already has saved $24,000 toward tuition.

Then he ends up giving the bulk of his money to charity and burning the rest of his cash, literally, before hopping into his beat-up car for points unknown. He aspires to be a modern-day Thoreau or Jack London, communing with the wilderness and coming out enlightened for the experience, and even adopts the name 'Alexander Supertramp' to signal his bold, new persona.

But he's clearly still mired in adolescence in many ways; his journal entries - rambling, self-important - include oversized exclamation points dotted with little circles at the bottom. That boyish enthusiasm often works to his advantage, though, especially as he enjoys the kindness of strangers during his travels.

There's the hippie couple (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker) who take him under their wing and treat him like a son; a South Dakota farmer (Vince Vaughn, comparatively subdued) who gives Chris a job and provides him with a de facto home base; a teen folk singer (Kristen Stewart) who takes a liking to him at the Southern California vagabond mecca of Slab City; and, most significantly, a lonely retiree (Hal Holbrook) who tearfully, touchingly becomes his one true friend.

Penn skips back and forth between all these strongly acted adventures and the destination that would become Chris' last: an abandoned bus in middle-of-nowhere Alaska. He reads, he hunts, he tries to stay warm, tries to stay alive. There's the crunch of snow beneath his feet, the sound of his breath as he hikes up a mountain, but ultimately just a vast, all-encompassing stillness.

A Startling Transformation

As he nurtures his own spirit, though, he doesn't seem to care that his mysterious, two-year absence has destroyed those of his parents. He's also failed to keep in touch with his younger sister, Carine (Jena Malone), who was his steadfast ally and whose wistful, worried monologue serves as the film's narration. (Penn relies a bit too much on this device; on the flip side, original music from Eddie Vedder complements the action and is an ideal choice for its own sense of insatiability.)

As in the previous films he's directed, including 2001's 'The Pledge,' Penn never shies away from the bleaker aspects of the story - not just in the external surroundings but within the character's soul. Hirsch lost 41 pounds from his already lean frame to play the man at his most mortally emaciated, but in Penn's assured hands, the actor's transformation from the inside is just as startling to behold.

MOVIE REVIEW

Into The Wild ***½

MOVIE BOARD RATING: R (language, nudity)

STARS: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Catherine Keener, Brian Dierker, Hal Holbrook

DIRECTOR: Sean Penn

LOCATION: See Movie Times, Page 10

PLOT: Well-off college grad gives up possessions and heads to Alaska.

RUNNING TIME: 150 minutes

ON THE WEB: www.intothe

wild.com

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