Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, Gaby Hoffman
Certificate: 15
Special Features: Deleted scenes with commentary, The real Cheryl Strayed, The real location is the best location, How much does a monster weigh?, Pacific Crest Trail interactive map, Promotional featurettes, Audio commentary by Jean-Marc Vallee Bruno Papandrea and David Greenbaum, Gallery
Based on the best-selling novel by Cheryl Strayed, Wild picks us up and drops us immediately into her true story which is her taking a trek along the grueling Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from US-Mexico border right through to the US-Canada border taking in 25 forests and 7 national parks and is over 2,600 miles long. It’s a colossal challenge for anyone and for Cheryl, portrayed by Reese Witherspoon, it’s a response to a number of huge changes in her life both in relationships and with her family.
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and with a screenplay by Nick Hornby, we open with the inexperienced Cheryl packing up a backpack that’s far too big with endless amounts of stuff she probably won’t need. I only say this from my own familiarity with camping and considering she’s about to trek a few thousand miles, it’s clear she’s going to have a hard time to get going. So, we witness the struggle early on, and all her doubts as she’s considering giving up amongst the searing heat of the Mojave Desert. This is also an early look into flashes of her life and the reasons she’s doing this, we see flickers of her memories with family and lovers – but what or who they are at this stage, we don’t yet know.
Half-way across the Desert, and having already eaten all her food, she stumbles across a farmer who’s good enough to take her in for the night and we learn of a reoccurring theme with Cheryl, that she’s told later on by a group of fellow hikers, which is she gets lot of help along the way but mainly when she needs it most. This is mostly true throughout, except when two hunters give a serious cause for concern but by then, she’s a little more seasoned in what to do and plays it right. Right through the movie, Witherspoon throws herself into the role and the numerous special features will give even more insight into the process, it’s a remarkable and honest performance that helps you connect with the character.
What’s particularly interesting about Wild is the full disclosure of Cheryl’s life and having personally not read the book, I still understood the reasons that made her take on the challenge. Throughout the film as Cheryl walks, we observe her memories revealed in flashbacks. It takes us all through her troubled childhood with an alcoholic, abusive father, her happier times with the man she married (Thomas Sadoski) and then her addiction with heroin and impulsive sex with strangers after the traumatic death of her Mother from cancer.
Her Mother Bobbi, portrayed by Laura Dern, is a huge influence on her life and although they didn’t always feel like they were on the same level, it’s clear that Bobbi did the very best she could for her kids, a lot of the time against the odds. It’s interesting that while the walking is obviously arduous in every sense, it’s not only a physical test but also a psychological one that empowers her to keep going. In similar ‘escape to the wilderness’ tales, I connected with Wild more intensely than Into The Wild and I think this mainly comes down to the reasonable need for escapism.
Wild is a powerful story, portrayed intelligently and with true spirit by Witherspoon who excels as sole lead Cheryl Strayed. Also, the story isn’t romanticized because as we visually observe the beauty of the journey, it’s the astonishing hard graft and belief that keeps her going. Even if you’ve not encountered the same things as Cheryl, it’ll make you want to go out and explore the world for all the right reasons and, for me, that’s an essential outcome for all films in this genre.
[usr=4] Wild is out now to own on Blu-ray and DVD from Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Dan loves writing, film, music and photography. Originally from Devon, he did London for 4 years and now resides in Exeter. He also has a mild obsession with squirrels and cake. The latter being more of a hobby. Favourite movies include HIGH FIDELITY, ALMOST FAMOUS, ROXANNE, GOOD WILL HUNTING, JURASSIC PARK, too many Steve Martin films and Nolan's BATMAN universe. He can also be found on www.twitter.com/danbullock
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