Monday 26 January 2015

Wild: Film Review



Wild, the film of Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same name, is about a woman’s redemptive experience of hiking 1100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s both a very personal story and a story about the transformative power of undertaking a major and difficult project and seeing it through. In this case that project is a very long wilderness hike and the story is also about the positive effects of long-distance walking and immersion in nature.

The film has proved controversial with some hikers who don’t like its portrayal of hiking while others have defended it by saying it’s not really about the Pacific Crest Trail anyway. I disagree with both points of view. I think it’s an excellent film that is about the Pacific Crest Trail, both from a general hiker’s perspective and from the intense personal experience of Cheryl Strayed, a novice hiker escaping from a horrendous life of drugs and casual sex and still bearing the trauma of dealing with the death of her beloved mother. 

Viewing the film as a long-distance hiker I did wonder what non-hikers would make of it. As well as the beauty of the landscape the film shows much of the daily detail of long-distance hiking.  Those who’ve hiked long trails will be familiar with many of the experiences, including some of the novice mistakes Strayed makes, and also appreciate the subtle ways in which she comes to enjoy the trail despite the blisters and sores. The film doesn’t flinch from the latter with close-ups of bloody mangled feet and red raw hips and shoulders. That hikers get dirty and smelly isn’t overlooked either – indeed the latter is mentioned several times – and Reese Witherspoon, who plays Strayed, certainly looks grimy enough. Some of the experiences – running out of water on a hot dry section, postholing through soft deep snow with a ridiculously heavy pack - matched those on my PCT hike enough for me to smile at the memories.. Supply boxes, trail angels, tent pitching, cooking, eating out a pot, hiking in the rain – they’re all there. 

But the rewards are there too in the landscape, which looks enticing and just crying out to be hiked. For various reasons the film wasn’t actually made on the PCT apart from a few shots but the landscapes chosen as substitutes replicate it pretty well.  Strayed’s hike took her from hot deserts to snow-covered mountains and all this is in the film. 

Strayed’s hike forms, appropriately, the spine of the film. Her previous life, from childhood and joy with her mother to degradation after her mother’s death, is shown in the form of flashbacks linked to Strayed’s thoughts as she hikes and works through her past. Having read the book I knew what to expect here. It’s a harrowing story though and I can imagine that for viewers who hadn’t read the book some of the scenes of heroin use and sex could be quite startling and shocking, especially if they were expecting a film just about hiking. Using flashbacks like this is effective though as the background to the hike is slowly built up.

Reese Witherspoon, who plays Strayed, is excellent and convincing as a long-distance hiker and as the anguished woman trying to shed her demons. It’s an intense performance that really makes the film. 

I thought the film as a whole was very good too. I’ll certainly watch it again. It fits in with those other outdoor journey-in-search-of-meaning films Tracks and Into The Wild and also, to a lesser extent, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man. If you enjoyed those films I think you’ll enjoy Wild.
And on a final note – it really made me want to go on a long-distance hike.

17 comments:

  1. I agree Chris, I thought it was a very good film but it definitely helped make sense of it by having read the book - some could struggle with the format and flow of the film if they haven't. I can see that many non-hikers may not even consider going to see it under the misapprehension that's it all about hiking, which of course it isn't.

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  2. Agreed, not read the book but really enjoyable. Film is defintiely about hiking, though not always about the hike. Sound treatment really helps convey author's internal journey. And one of laura dern's best performances as mum.

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  3. Thanks for the review... Wild is on my radar, but I was slightly apprehensive to go and see it at first as I am always slightly cautious about mainstream outdoor/mountain themed films (anyone for Vertical Limit? ;), thank goodness for films such as Touching The Void and the KMF and other film festivals to see some real quality films. But Wild looks as though it is definitely worth going to see.

    There was another "rite of passage" hiking film I saw a few years ago, I can't remember the name, featuring a novice walker (played by Pauline Quirk) who reaching middle age (mini mid-life crisis?) decides to walk the Offa's Dyke Path.. OK not the PCT but as with Wild (from what has been said) in the film with Pauline Quirk the hike is not just about the physical journey of A to B.

    Thanks for the review and comments, I'll go and see Wild soon, if only to see the scenery as the PCT is on "The List".

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  4. I enjoyed the film (and the book) but what I thought was lacking in the film and where it differed from the book was the growing sense of enjoyment that Cheryl had when walking. In the film, she always looked miserable when walking, which I think was a pity.

    Having said this, I saw it with my daughter, a very urban young woman who gets withdrawal symptoms if she's more than 10 minutes from a coffee shop, and she said that she'd like to try backpacking - so the message can't have been all bad.

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  5. 'The Way', a 2010 film about walking the camino de Santiago is worth a look. It's a fictional story but certainly watchable.

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  6. I hadn't even hear of this but will look it out. Chris, as an aside, you refer to the mistakes novice long distance hikers make. What, in your view, are the top few mistakes? I guess the first will be taking too much? And then....?

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    1. Taking too much is certainly the main one. I'd also say choosing the wrong footwear - novices tend to be impressed by big heavy boots (I know I was). Not practising with new equipment - tent pitching, stove lighting. With regard to the Pacific Crest Trail there's also carrying enough water in the desert sections (which I didn't at first). Also, trying to do too much too soon. Rather than dashing off trying to do high mileage days from the start I think it's best to ease into the walk. Higher mileages come as you get fitter.

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    2. Thanks Chris. Interesting.

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  8. I saw this film the other day and pretty much agree with your comments. Well constructed, with its half present trail half past flashback technique — the two halves linked together very well. And surprisingly subtle too, as you say — not the sentimental, in-your-face 'redemptive' quest movie I'd been expecting. Her trail experiences on the PCT seemed quite authentic to me, but you're a better judge of that than I. What ambushed me the most was how emotionally powerful the film was. Something you didn't mention I was very conscious of in the film was the threatening aspect and attitude of various men along the way from a lone woman's perspective. I found Strayed's /Witherspoon's stubborn resilience admirable.

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  9. Solitary Walker.. Yes, I too was struck by the implied vulnerability of being a solo female walker from the film. That first encounter with the farmer in the pick up truck goes to show how wrong we can be.. He turned out to be an angel. As a bloke, this sort of thing - vulnerability from strangers, rarely crosses my radar, but Witherspoon's carachter dealt with such instances brilliantly.

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  10. Solitary Walker.. Yes, I too was struck by the implied vulnerability of being a solo female walker from the film. That first encounter with the farmer in the pick up truck goes to show how wrong we can be.. He turned out to be an angel. As a bloke, this sort of thing - vulnerability from strangers, rarely crosses my radar, but Witherspoon's carachter dealt with such instances brilliantly.

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    1. That's how much of the trail she hiked Tony, which is made clear in the book and the film. She hiked from the Mohave Desert to Kennedy Meadows on the southern edge of the High Sierra, skipped the latter due to the snow and went to northern California and walked from there to the Columbia River.

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    2. Ah,I wondered if she "only" did half.
      Hoping to watch on Wednesday or Thursday.
      Still good going!

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  12. As a long distance walker myself I thought the film was OK although found it surprising that she didn't get tanned or weathered during the walk :-)

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  13. The movie may not be as convincing as the book in depicting Cheryl's journey toward spiritual fulfillment, but Wild's considerable power is bound up with Reese Witherspoon's performance and what we know about her.

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