Into The Wild

Last night my wife and I saw the film, Into the Wild. I’m a huge fan of Krakauer’s book and this is quite possibly the best film version of a great book ever. Don’t miss this movie! Completely soul-stirring. Into the Wild is about dreams; it’s about what is important. No car chases no futuristic bullshit no special effects. Sean Penn’s direction is chocked full of texture and nuance, and he pulls tour-de-force performances out of the entire acting ensemble. Hal Holbrook...wow...

After the movie at home we got lucky (no, not THAT kind of lucky...). Flicked on the TV (usually a major mistake on “date night”) and a cable show called ICONOCLASTS came on and lo-and-behold it featured an hour-long documentary with Sean Penn and Jon Krakauer talking about Into the Wild. I’ve long admired Penn -- he’s his own guy -- but he rises even higher in my esteem since seeing these two productions. (I’d forgotten that he self financed a personal trip to pre-invasion Iraq and wrote several prophetic articles. At the time people called him a traitor. Every word turned out to be true. The most prescient? His article on “going into Iraq will be much easier than getting out.” Wonder why that never dawned on anyone else?)

Forget Puerto Rico: I hope the next residency is in ALASKA! Did I mention I liked this movie?
Don L.