By 1995, Cheryl Strayed had lost her way. A variety of personal setbacks left her lost and without direction. Her mother had died of cancer, she was divorced and believing she had nowhere left to turn as her personal demons were eating her alive, which is when she decided it was time for something dramatic to get her back to the woman her mother believed her to be. She would travel the Pacific Crest Trail, taking her more than 1,000 miles through the Mojave Desert, north to the boarder of Washington State and Oregon. She told her story in her 2012 memoir “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” and now director Jean-Marc Valle (Dallas Buyers Club), screenwriter Nick Hornby (About a Boy, An Education) and star/producer Reese Witherspoon bring the story to the big screen in Wild, and the result is inspiring.
Knowing the film’s premise walking in, I was aware there would be a liberal use of flashbacks, something I most often disdain, but in this case there’s no helping it. As she makes her way, Strayed’s thoughts take her into her past, exploring events, searching for meaning and learning to accept where she is today and wants to be in the future. Perhaps most pivotal is a comment coming from her mother (Laura Dern), living a life she could have never anticipated, divorced from her alcoholic and abusive husband with two children to care for on her own. Yet, she tells Cheryl she wouldn’t have done anything differently. The human tendency is to always focus on the negative, concerning ourselves with how bad things may be or make us feel rather than the lessons learned as a result of those down moments in our life, or the good that has come from them. This is the crux of Strayed’s journey.
Reese Witherspoon previously won an Oscar for her work in Walk the Line, another role in which she played a real life character, but her performance here is a complete revelation by comparison — occasionally dark and feral, to emotionally defeated and, along the way, inspiring. In fact, some moments are hard to explain why they work so well, such as how simply recognizing the beauty of the sunset, and how every day we can choose whether or not to witness its beauty, really hits home.
Obviously, Strayed’s decision to hit the trail is the most uplifting, not because the answer to all our problems is a 1,000+ mile hike, but it’s the sense of accomplishment and recognition of past transgressions and how one intends to change things going forward that really matters. Certainly her situation, and the downward spiral her life was on before she decided to do something about it, is a bit more dramatic than many of us will ever have to endure. However, as a pivotal moment in the film points out, we all have our share of problems, and I’ll be damned if Strayed’s willpower isn’t enough to make you sit back and ask yourself what you’ve accomplished in life, wondering if you are achieving your true potential.
As a result of the narrative continually flashing back in time, Valle had to rely heavily on Martin Pensa‘s editing and he delivered, particularly in a smartly designed flash at the beginning hinting at some of the darker elements of the story to come.
I also found the cinematography from Yves Belanger (Laurence Anyways) interesting in how many different settings he had to shoot this picture, from the wide open expanse of the wilderness, to back alleys and the dirty apartment of a junkie. But what’s equally interesting is how Vallée holds his focus largely on his characters, even in the sunset moment I referenced earlier as one of the characters says, “Look at that,” and the camera doesn’t look away, more intent on capturing the character’s faces than the image of what is being seen.
It’s not often I see a movie and want to read the book afterward, but in the case of Wild I might make an exception. I was legitimately moved by Strayed’s accomplishment and I love how Vallee chose to end the film, understanding it’s a film about the journey and a sense of self-worth, more than feeling a need to wrap up what happened after the hike with a pretty little bow. Voice over from Witherspoon more than accomplishes the “what happened next” aspect of the story so many will be concerned about, capturing, as she does throughout, a moment in which her character is by herself better than she ever does opposite other actors. This is a film everyone can walk away from inspired, filled with a thirst to experience life to the fullest.
