I was blown away by Wild. But that's not too much of a surprise. Having read Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things, a collection of her "Dear Sugar" advice columns, I knew that the story of Wild--how Strayed hiked over 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone to heal from her mother's death--would be an astounding, deeply touching one.
Strayed's philosophy on life, apparent in her "Dear Sugar" column, is one of radical empathy and forgiveness. And she traveled a most difficult path to get to that philosophy. Her dad was an abusive alcoholic, so her mom left him when Strayed was six. But although times were often tough for her family, the bond she had with her mother was unshakeable--so much so that it nearly destroyed Strayed when her mom was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer and died just a month later when Strayed was 22. In her grief, she turned to promiscuous sex (she was married at the time to her first husband) and drugs, including heroin. Her decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail came from seeing a trail guide about it in a convenience store and perhaps instinctively knowing that she needed something radically different and physically difficult to force herself back on the right path in life.
I haven't read Wild (though I definitely want to after seeing the movie), but I don't need to have read it to understand that it was a difficult book to adapt for the big screen. A significant chunk of the film is just Strayed on the trail by herself, with little or no dialogue. And nearly half the film is made up of flashbacks. But Nick Hornby, who adapted Strayed's memoir into a screenplay, did a masterful job. Although the flashbacks jump around in time, from moments in Strayed's childhood, to a "come to Jesus" moment with a friend who confronts her about her drug use, to visiting her mom in the hospital, they never feel disjointed or confusing. In fact, the atemporal nature of the flashbacks tell a richer, more holistic story about who Strayed is and where she came from. For the scenes where Strayed is alone on the trail, Hornby (and director Jean-Marc Vallee) use quiet voiceovers to represent Strayed's thoughts, or settled on no dialogue at all--just the sounds of nature. This was really effective, and the movie never dragged or left me bored.
And Reese Witherspoon's performance as Strayed. Wow. Witherspoon has a (perhaps unfair) reputation for playing good girls and goody two shoes (although one of her more edgy roles--Tracy Flick in Election--is also one of her best). But as Strayed, she isn't afraid to get her hands a little dirty. Strayed was, in fact, a "good girl" right up until her mom died. She went to college while working full time and had ambitions and dreams. But her mother's death led her down a path she could never have fathomed. Witherspoon does these scenes, including having sex with two men in an alley and shooting up heroin in a flophouse, with a vulnerability that never comes off as overly dramatic or unrealistic. Even in the depths of her lowest moments, she's still very human and--you can tell--a strong woman. A woman who wants something better for herself. Witherspoon could have gnawed these scenes to death, but she doesn't. She's understated and believable.
Other good things about Wild include the wonderful soundtrack, with Simon and Garfunkel's beautiful "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" popping up multiple times during the film. The music adds to the film rather than distract from it. Also, Laura Dern gives a joyous and heartbreaking performance as Strayed's mother, Bobbi. Dern's smile just lights up all the scenes she's in. It's easy to believe that the death of this woman would be so devastating to Strayed.
There are so few films that look at women's journeys and don't focus on romantic love. Wild really is unique in this regard. The film is a love story--between a mother and her daughter, and between a woman and her soul. It's also a tale of rebirth. When Cheryl Strayed hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, she wasn't just making an attempt to remove or lessen her grief--she was actively growing, with each step, each mistake, each scary night and blistered day, into the woman she always wanted to become. It's a beautiful story that in Hornby, Witherspoon, and Vallee's capable hands, is beautifully told.
A+
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