Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ouch..., 17 Mar 2008
I have to say at first I came to this film through Eddie Vedder (big Pearl Jam fan), and I'm very happy I did.
I just watched the movie on DVD, and I have read all the other reviews here, which are much better than mine as far as going into details about the film, great camera work, the history behind the story, Sean Penn's ultimate vision and so on. So I'll just convey what this film did to my emotions, while the bruises to my senses are still raw.
I was expecting to have a tough time watching this. Like most people who watched it, I knew the outcome, and felt I was prepared... I wasn't.
I really liked this kid, and I felt in a way, what he felt as he went along exploring, whatever it is he felt he had to explore. In getting me along for the ride, this movie works on every level. And the way it brings us back to that buss, little by little, while telling the story leading up to it, jerks you in and out of danger so to speak, so when the final breath is exhaled, you, or atleast I, felt like I was right there, helpess and unable to stop this from happening. And that's the crux of the whole thing to me, now, 12-15 minutes after the end credits. And when a movie does that to you... It's a work of pure art.
To me.
As for all the rest. I loved this actor, I loved the others, the hippie couple, the young girl, the old man, Vince Vaughn, the danish couple (I'm half danish, so thanks Sean, for having real danish people speak real danish in your movie!) and the sisters narrating.
And on top of it all, there's Eddie Vedder, and it's just so good!
Thank you for leaving my feelings raw like an exposed nerve. Feels good to be alive.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look Again, 7 Aug 2008
Wow!!....This film is truly a hidden gem.
I had no expectations when I bought this film and didn't know the story, but by the end of the film I looked at life a little differently.
The images on screen along with the soundtrack works to take you into this lads life, the way he looks at things around him is a eye opener. So many people go though life looking but not seeing what's around them.
The film will effect you; and at the end it haunted me for a couple of days after and to a point still does. Buy or borrow this film it is a must see film. Not a bockbuster but a film that will touch your soul.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A movie, and soundtrack, that stay with you, 2 Jan 2009
I came to this movie on the back of a diary entry by one of my Chinese students - and was as such, happily oblivious to the "hype" that apparently surrounds it. I notice its detractors are as careful in their complete deconstruction of the film, from its actors and soundtrack to its existentialism and moralising, as those who love it are genuinely moved.
As for me, I liked this movie precisely because it shows the flaws and the cracks in a beautiful theory. The Alaskan wilderness proves the fatal downfall of our hero, even as it provides him with the answers. He gives all his money to charity, burns the rest and then has to go and find a job.
Nature is beautiful and terrifying. So is society. You might get killed on the street outside your house, having never lived, and that's the most scary thing of all. McCandless went out there to ask questions of himself and to find out what really matters in this life - he may have lived more in those few years than most people do in a lifetime - and he was foolish, young and pretentious. So what! This is the stuff of life!
I thought the acting was solid and believable, with Hal Holbrook shining as the old man looking to fill the gap in his life by adopting McCandless. Eddie Vedder's soundtrack is perfectly haunting, particularly "Long Nights".
Philosophers, travellers, aspiring vagabonders and anyone who's ever asked themselves who they are, and what they are doing in this life, will like this movie, because it tells the tale of one young guy doing precisely that.
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