Review: Just Wild about Wild

Wild

Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Written by: Nick Hornby
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski
Running Time: 115 minutes

Rated: MA 15+

“What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to f**k every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?”  - Cheryl Strayed

I’ve long had a bit of a dream to walk the Camino in Spain and France. I’ve long resisted it because of the now large number of ‘pilgrims’ who do the track in peak season. The answer of course is to do it in the off season but then a lot of the rest stops and accommodations are closed and the weather not so flash. Oh well, there are plenty of other things to be getting on with and in the meantime I can satisfy myself with reading books by other people who undertake these endeavours. One of the best books on long distance walking is Cheryl Strayed’s ‘Wild’ and now it is a film starring Reese Witherspoon.

Cheryl, in the aftermath of the sudden death of her mother and in the midst of her marriage, a fair bit of infidelity and a different sort of excursion into the arms of heroin, decides to hop on the Pacific Crest Trail for a few months and 1100 miles. As you do.

Of course the story is just one gruelling mile after another and then a nice neat bit of self discovery at the end. We are given glimpses into the diagnosis of the mother’s breast cancer and the rapid death, the family dynamics formed from an abusive father and fractious relationships with Cheryl’s brother Leif, the ‘men’, the drugs (fairly low key compared to the book) and of course the characters along the trail, most endearing, plus an occasional suss one. For a two hour film there wasn’t much lagging.

As with most transfers from book to film there are some really nice elements not included and a bit of conflating of characters that can make you wince. If you haven’t read the book of course that matters not a jot. The film is coherent and cohesive, well-structured just as the source material was. A really well written and entertaining book has become a very strong and focussed film. The added advantage of the film is bringing to life some of the spectacular as well as harsh scenery described in the book. It’s hard to convey the privations of the trek in the film as convincingly as the words in the book but it gives us a good ‘taste’ if you like.

Reese Witherspoon in the main role has to carry the whole film as strongly as she carries her enormous backpack nicknamed ‘monster’ by some fellow trekkers. And she does it very well, perhaps because she also acted as a Producer on the movie. If not for her the film would simply crumble, if not for her we would feel no engagement and if not for her we wouldn’t be entertained. Is it a great piece of acting though? I don’t really think so, there’s nothing startling in her performance. The depth and interest to the film is in Cheryl’s story, why she does it and how she does it. The script and the directing is the star of the film and Reese is the mechanism to bring that to us. This is in no way a criticism of her just a reflection on some of the hype around the movie that has centred on her performance. Good on her for getting it to the screen and good on her for doing a great job in the role but I can’t get excited about her other than that.

Gee this is a good film, I wonder if it might have been as enjoyable if I hadn’t loved the book so much but I’ll never know so I’m just going with it being a film worth seeing. It’s a story worth knowing and a few messages worth considering. And you get to take the 800 mile walk without the blisters, the dehydration, the body odour, the wildlife and the extremes in temperature. Ah the magic of movies.

4 out of 5