I wasn't a fan of Jean-Marc Vallée
last film, "Dallas Buyers Club," which I found to be a pretty typical
social justice drama with some good performances. It was solid
filmmaking, but nothing really memorable. So I wasn't expecting much
from "Wild," which was billed as an uplifting female-centric drama
starring Reese Witherspoon, with a adventurous, woman v. nature bent. I
figured I'd get something like "Eat, Pray, Love" in hiking boots.
"Wild" is definitely not that.
Witherspoon plays
Cheryl Strayed, a troubled young woman who sets out on an 1,100 mile
hike of the Pacific Crest Trail through desert and mountain terrains,
despite little previous experience. On her way, she sorts through her
eventful life in flashback, and in particular the recent traumas and
mistakes that left her in search of spiritual renewal in the
wilderness. We follow Cheryl through the arduous trek, both physically
and mentally, that brings her into contact with many different dangers
on the trail, and daunting emotional pitfalls while confronting her
past. Thomas Sadoski plays Cheryl's ex-husband Paul and Laura Dern plays her mother, Bobbi.
The
immediate comparison that comes to mind when looking at "Wild" is Danny
Boyd's survival film "127 Hours," which also employs a lot of
flashbacks to provide a window into the mental state of a protagonist
doing solitary battle with nature. "Wild" spends much more time outside
its subject's head since Cheryl has much more literal ground to cover,
but it does a great job of finding a similar balance between her
internal and external struggles, and weaving them together in
interesting ways. There are some great sequences here that are
effective largely due to strong editing choices and careful scene
construction. I happily hand the bulk of the credit for them to Vallée,
who is credited as the film's editor as well as it's director.
Reese
Witherspoon certainly deserves her kudos too. "Wild" was conceived as a
vehicle for her talents, and though she initially doesn't seem to be a
good fit for the role, she pulls it off. Her Cheryl Strayed could have
easily been a far weaker, more stereotypical heroine, and her redemption
arc played up in a more obvious way. Instead, between Witherspoon and
Vallée, we get a considered, thorough exploration of a complicated
woman. The narrative is very personal and intimate, delving into
Strayed's childhood memories, her most painful and vulnerable moments,
and quiet personal triumphs. It doesn't sugarcoat anything and lets
Cheryl be pretentious, faithless, selfish, and foolish when she needs to
be. Witherspoon isn't afraid of being unlikeable, which is key. One
scene that stuck with me was a flashback to a conversation between
Cheryl and Bobbi where Cheryl makes some thoughtless comments that are
clearly hurtful to her mother in hindsight, and Cheryl's guilt still
lingers in the present.
I expect those viewers
more interested in the wilderness adventure aspect of the film might be a
little disappointed. There are some lovely beauty shots of the Pacific
Northwest, but the focus of the film isn't the day-to-day business of
the hike itself, but the people Cheryl meets and the situations she gets
into because of the hike. Once she gets through her initial
difficulties with equipment and footwear, the time on the trail takes a
backseat to the character study. The depictions of the hiking culture
ring true, though, and wilderness trail enthusiasts get their moment in
the spotlight. Also, there's a pointed emphasis on the particular
hurdles Cheryl faces because she's a woman hiking the trail alone.
Watching
"Wild" didn't make me feel particularly inclined to put on a pair of
boots, but it did help me appreciate why other people do. There have
been several of these self-discovery in the wilderness movies over the
past few years, including "Tracks," "Into the Wild," and "The Grey."
"Wild" is one of the better ones because the execution is so strong and
Cheryl Strayed proves to be a main character worth following on her
journey. I'm glad I put aside my doubts and watched this, because it
really exceeded my expectations. And Jean-Marc Vallée can now count me as a fan.
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