Sean Penn goes behind the camera to direct this film based on a true story of a young man who after finishing high school leaves everything behind - his parents (a fighting couple), his loving sister, identity, money - and travels as a vagabond, meeting interesting people on the way, to living alone in Alaska.
The film begins with Alex going into the wild, into the unknown land of Alaska and it shows his journey as it goes into flash-backs over the duration. He is a strong, determined kid, with strong convictions and keeps moving forward. Once in Alaska he finds an abandoned bus, which he makes into his home. He enjoys his solitude but later struggles with his loneliness and as the 'wildness' gets to him.
It's a pretty interesting film considering it tracks the journey of this one person, a bright young man, fed-up with his parents fighting, with the world, who is an idealist and lives his dream of being free and going with the flow. The film also gives the point of view of his sister's throughout the film through her voice-over. The film ambles with Alex's journey going through different terrains - shows different regions and his interactions with different sorts of people; it sets a pretty relaxed pace of viewing.
Alex is an interesting character; the standard 'rising tension' seems amiss in the film....he is passive and yet to an extent you are captivated by his journey. However the film does suffer from 'trying-to-be-cute' characters & dialogues; there are some contrived moments and sometimes the momentum does seem to lag. Where it scores is in making the film grand, just focused on one individual and you do end up liking and caring for this character.
Rating ***
[Max ****]
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