With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthen, and ultimately heals her. Written by

Plot Synopsis:
-------------------

In the opening scene (set in the year 1995), a young woman named Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) is seen reaching the top of a cliff while carrying a big pack. She is exhausted and takes a seat, where she removes one of her boots. She peels off the sock to reveal that one of her toenails is about to fall off from all the pressure on her feet. She peels the toenail off, but then accidentally knocks the boot off the cliff edge and watches helplessly as it tumbles down the cliff face. She removes the other boot and hurls it over the edge, screaming in frustration.

In a flashback, the movie goes back to the first day of her journey where she checks in to a motel room with an enormous backpack. The motel clerk tells her that there will be an extra charge if a man stays with her, and though Cheryl insists she is by herself, the clerk keeps repeating there will be an extra charge. The clerk also asks for a home address. Cheryl explains that she's hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and doesn't have an address, so the clerk tells her to put her parents' address down. Cheryl hesitates but eventually puts an address down.

She goes to her room and makes a phone call to a man. She tells the man that she had to put an address down for her motel and she provided his. The man, Paul (Thomas Sadoski), confirms that it's fine and she should feel free to put his address down. Cheryl says she was also looking for her brother, even though she's not sure he will even care. Paul tells her that he will pass along a message to her brother and asks how she's feeling about the hike. They have a strained conversation and eventually Paul tells her that he has company and he's making dinner so he will need to get off the phone. Cheryl seems to be uncomfortable with this information but Paul tells her that she's the one who felt she had to hike 1,000 miles.

As Cheryl goes through her prep, we see flashes of memories, Cheryl having sex with someone, her mother dancing, Cheryl using heroin, Cheryl fighting with a man in a car. These flashes happen repeatedly throughout the movie. Her pack is enormous and she can barely get it on her back and stand up with it. She goes outside to a gas station to find someone to approach for a ride. She sees an older man traveling with a woman in a minivan, and they agree to give her a ride to the beginning of the trail. The man plays oldies on his radio, which Cheryl sings along to and remembers singing along with her mother as a child.

The couple drops Cheryl off at the beginning of the trail, which is marked by a signpost as well as a notebook log for travelers to sign (Day 1). She leaves quotes and song lyrics along the path, attributing them to both the original speaker as well as herself. She looks ahead with uncertainty, but forges ahead. She only makes it a few miles before stopping to set up a camp. She is clearly a novice hiker and camper. During her first stop, she struggles to put up her tent. When she gets out her camping stove, she realizes that she purchased the wrong kind of gas. She adds water to her grains and just eats the mush. She continues for several days, at a slow pace, eating nothing but mush. She comes to a literal crossroad, and she can continue on the trail or take the paved road back to a town. She decides to keep going.

One afternoon (Day 5) she finally comes upon a truck and someone riding a tractor. She runs up to catch the rider before he rides away to beg for a ride back to town. As she approaches, she sees it's a man by himself. She asks if he could give her a ride somewhere she can get a hot meal. The man seems suspicious of her and says he's working, and she says she can wait for him to be done. He says by the time he's done, no restaurant in town will be open. She responds that she can camp somewhere near the restaurant and wait for it to open. Realizing that she won't be put off, the man agrees to take her when he's done and tells her to wait in his truck.

Cheryl waits in the truck and pokes around while waiting for the man. She finds a gun in the glove compartment, which she puts back. The man gets in the truck when he's done, sitting and starring at her. Cheryl starts to feel uncomfortable. The man tells her that he's decided that she can go to his house where she can have a hot meal and a shower. Cheryl tells him that he doesn't have to do that, he can just take her into town, but he insists. He also swigs from a flask and hands it to her. She takes it and feeling more and more uncomfortable, she tries to casually tell him that her husband had hiked on ahead of her and they had planned to regroup in a few days. The man stares at her and then tells her he likes to relax after a hard day's work. The man reaches under his dashboard and yanks something out, revealing it to be red licorice. He grins and hands Cheryl a piece, telling her not to tell his wife as she doesn't allow him to have candy. Cheryl laughs and the man drives her to his home. The man and his wife welcome Cheryl into their home, serving her a hot home-cooked meal, though the wife puts down newspapers on Cheryl's chair as she's been hiking for many days. The man remarks that if he wouldn't allow his wife to go on such a difficult hike on her own and his wife warmly teases him. Despite their rough appearance, they are clearly kind, decent people.

In the morning, the man drives Cheryl into town so she can buy the right kind of gas for her stove and takes her back to the trail. Cheryl confesses that she made up the story about her husband because she was nervous, but the man tells her that he understands. He asks her if she ever thinks about quitting, and she tells him that it only occurs to her every two minutes. He tells her that he's quit many things in life, marriages, jobs, but he never felt he had a choice.

Cheryl continues on the trail slowly. As she walks in solitude, there are multiple flashbacks which unfold out of order. She remembers her mother, Bobbi (Laura Dern), dancing with her and her younger brother Leif (Keene McRae) as children. She remembers her mother rushing them out of their childhood home to escape her abusive father. She remembers the rural farmhouse they moved to in rural Minnesota, where they lived in poverty as her mother tried to make their childhoods happy and full of love.

Cheryl reads a book in her tent at night, and in a flashback we see that she derided her mother for reading the same book, dismissing the author and his writing style. Apparently Bobbi decided to go back to college late in life and attended the same college as Cheryl, at the same time. Cheryl remembers being embarrassed of her mother, barely acknowledging her in a hallway, but then apologizing to her for it later that night. Bobbi tells her she understands that it's weird, and it's fine. Leif arrives home with a friend, and Bobbi immediately stops her homework to fix them something to eat. Cheryl is annoyed by this and tells Bobbi and Leif is old enough to get himself something to eat and that Bobbi should be focused on her schoolwork, but Bobbi tells her that being a mother is the most important thing in her life.

Cheryl continues to hike (Day 10), struggling with her large pack and encounters a rattlesnake, rainstorms and other struggles. On Day 12, she eventually comes upon another hiker bathing in a stream named Greg (Kevin Rankin). They have a brief, friendly chat about the hike and how it's going. Greg tells her that he's been averaging over 20 miles a day, and Cheryl is embarrassed to admit how slowly she's been going. Greg also tells her that a section of the trail was hit by snow and that most hikers will be taking a bus to bypass the section. They make plans to meet at Kennedy Meadows, a major stopping and resupply point on the trail, which Greg will reach in just a few days.

Cheryl continues on the hike, finally reaching Kennedy Meadows (on Day 14), where she is greeted enthusiastically with applause by Greg and several other hikers, who are all men. Greg offers to buy Cheryl a drink, and she tells him that she's been dreaming of Snapple lemonade and potato chips for days. The hikers are all impressed with Cheryl, but they tease her about her enormous pack, which they've nicknamed Monster. Cheryl picks up a package that was sent by her friend Aimee (Gaby Hoffmann) with fresh clothes and more supplies. A man named Ed, who works at the campsite, offers to help Cheryl repack her gear to lighten the load. He gently teases her about the many items she's packed that she realizes she's never used like heavy camera equipment, condoms and other items. He also advises her to stop carrying so many books, but she refuses to dump them. He tells her that she should rip out the pages of a book after she's read that section to lighten the weight. When she mentions that she's been losing toenails, he advises her that it means her shoes are too small and she should call REI who will send a new pair to the next pick up station where they will be waiting for her. Greg again advises her to bypass the snow covered section and take a bus, but Cheryl insists she wants to hit her 1,000 mile goal. He simply tells her to add extra distance to her originally planned ending point and finish up at the Bridge of the Gods in Oregon instead.

Cheryl is next seen taking a bus from Kennedy Meadows to a point around the mountains near Reno, Nevada to continue the hike. One day (Day 25), while hitchhiking along a road, she has an encounter with a man driving by who introduces himself as Jimmy Carter who asks her some questions saying that he works for a magazine called Hobo Times, and assumes that she is a hobo. Despite telling him that she is just hiking the PCT, be becomes pushy and asks her questions such as her current place of residence as well as job status. Cheryl becomes annoyed with him and tells him to leave, and he drives off.

After hitching another ride with a hippie family, Cheryl continues on the hike, struggling with the difficult path and bad conditions. She has to cross rivers and hike through snow up in the Sierra Mountains, but perseveres on. She has an encounter with two snowboarders whom she asks for directions. One of them tells her that she is current in Plumas County, California. They ask if she is lost, but she tells them 'no' and continues on. While making camp, she sees a red fox looking at her. It runs off when she approaches it.

She reaches the point shown in the opening scene, where she loses her boots down a cliff face. She straps on her sandals, duct taping them to her feet for extra support, and continues on.

On Day 49, when she reaches the next stopping point on the trail, she is relieved to find her new boots waiting for her. She is also overjoyed to meet another woman hiking the trail, as there are so few of them. The woman, named Stacey Johnson, tells her that she met Greg along the way who ultimately had to quit the hike before completing it. Cheryl is astonished to hear that she is still hiking when Greg, the experienced hiker, had to quit.

In a flashback, Cheryl remembers complaining to Bobbi about the state of their lives. They both work full time as waitresses and live in a dump of a house. She asks Bobbi if she's not unhappy with her life, having been married to "an abusive asshole". Bobbi tells her that she doesn't regret being married to an abusive man because it brought her children into her life.

More flashbacks show that Bobbi is diagnosed with a late stage spinal cancer. She succumbs much more quickly than expected in March 1991 at age 47, and it sends Cheryl into a tailspin. She and Leif are further traumatized by having to put her mother's beloved horse down by shooting it. Cheryl begins to withdraw from life; she begins having sex with random strangers.... in a hotel room... in the alley behind the diner where she works... while still going home to her husband Paul. She also sleeps with a man who introduces her to heroin. Paul finds her in a drug den one day, sleeping naked with the man. He brings her home where after an argument about her current status, they agree to divorce.

As Cheryl hikes across the deserts of northern California, she reaches a water station (on Day 56), desperate to refill her bottles. However, the water has run out and Cheryl is left with nothing to drink. She hikes along and finds a puddle of stagnant water filled with mosquitoes. She gets out her water filtration pump, fills it, adds iodine and waits for the water to be treated and safe to drink. As she sits, two hunters come upon her who are also looking for water. She explains that she's waiting for her water to be treated, but they are free to use her pump. One of the hunters makes sexually suggestive comments to her and leers at her, so Cheryl says that she will be on her way. She packs up her things, and the hunters say they will be leaving as well and head back the way they came. Cheryl walks off for a bit, but then returns to the site when the hunters are out of view. She changes her clothes and starts to set up her tent for the night when one of the hunters suddenly reappears. It is the same creep who leered at her, and he tells her that he likes her new clothes better because they show off her figure. He asks her why she came back and if she had been lying to them about leaving to get rid of them. She nervously tells him no, she just changed her mind. The tense moment is broken up when the other hunter calls for the man to hurry up and get back. The creepy hunter leaves and Cheryl quickly packs up and runs away as fast as she can.

In another set of flashbacks, we see Cheryl getting matching tattoos with Paul. The tattoo artist asks what the occasion is, and Paul casually says that they are getting divorced but wanted to commemorate their journey together. The tattoo artist seems surprised, particularly when Cheryl blurts out that she cheated, a lot. The tattoo artists says that Cheryl seems sorry, and she responds that she is, nearly in tears. Paul soothes her. As they are about to mail their divorce papers, Paul asks how Cheryl's feeling about the new name she's chosen for herself, Strayed. Cheryl says it feels appropriate, given what's happened in her life. They mail the papers, embrace and separate.

On the trail again, (on Day 62) Cheryl crosses the Oregon state like comes to the small town of Ashland which filled with hikers and many hippie types. She goes into a makeup store and samples products when the saleswoman tells her that no matter how much lipstick she puts on, she must take care of her personal hygiene first. Cheryl leaves the store and encounters an attractive man who is handling out flyers for a concert. He approaches Cheryl, who tries to maintain her distance. He gives her a flyer and tells her that he will put her name on the guest list for the event.

Cheryl goes to a motel for the night, showers and makes herself up, heading to the show. The man brings her a drink and teases her about being unrecognizable now that she's all cleaned up. She goes home with him and sleeps with him. In the morning, she makes a phone call to Paul, leaving him a message. She tells him that she wrote his name in the sand on a beach that morning, as she does every time she's on a beach, but she won't do it anymore.

Another few days later, Cheryl hikes through the rain to reach another supply station at Mount Hood State Park, but the man who works there is closing up for the day. She begs him to reopen so she can get her package which will contain fresh clothes and more supplies. The man says he will reopen for her, if she promises to have a drink with him. She hesitantly agrees, and he reopens the mail office. As he is inside getting her package, three young men hikers also enter the building. They recognize Cheryl as being the only woman who has been signing the mile marker logs and repeat back many of the quotes and lyrics she has left behind. The man comes out with Cheryl's package but tells the young men that he's already reopened once, and he won't do it again. Cheryl points out that he's not reopening because it's still open, and that given the miserable weather conditions, the packages will bring a little bit of relief. The man begrudgingly retrieves the other packages. Cheryl's package contains a letter from Paul who tells her that he's so proud of her for making it this far and he hopes she finds what she's looking for.

Cheryl enjoys hanging out with the young hikers that night as they all camp out. In the morning, the man brings Cheryl a cup of coffee and a doughnut, which she gratefully accepts and the young men tease her over.

In another flashback, Cheryl thinks of her friend Aimee who has been sending the packages for her. Cheryl meets Aimee for coffee who tells her she's disappointed in her for her behavior, using heroin and sleeping around. Cheryl defiantly tells her that she will try anything once and she's not ashamed of it. However, she breaks down when she confesses to Aimee that she thinks she's pregnant and unsure of who the father is. Aimee forces her to go to a store to buy a pregnancy test, and as they wait in line to purchase it, Cheryl sees a book about the Pacific Crest Trail. She takes the test, which confirms she is pregnant. She breaks down and tells Aimee that she can't be somebody's mother and decides to get an abortion right away. She grieves for her own mother and decides that she will go on a solitary hike on the PCT to walk herself back into the woman her mother raised her to be rather than the mess of a woman she's become.

On Day 80, Cheryl is hiking through the woods when she encounters a lama, and an older woman and a young boy running up to her after their pack lama ran way. The little boy asks Cheryl about herself and she tells him about her father who left her and her mother who recently died. The boy sings Cheryl a song which makes her cry.

She continues on the trail and finally reaches the Bridge of the Gods (on Day 94). In a final voice-over, as she walks across the bridge, Cheryl talks about finally finishing the hike, and ultimately remarrying and having two children of her own. She ponders whether she actually regrets the mistakes she's made, as it brought her to the place she is in her life now.

Over the closing credits, there are photos of the real Cheryl Strayed taken during her real-life hiking journey.

----------------------------------------
regalosdelsol from United States
----------------------------------------

I am really surprised at all of the negative reviews here. But then I remember, this is IMDb. Enough said there. I enjoyed this movie very much. I don't think it was anything more than the story of one woman trying to find a way to move forward. This movie is not a political statement about feminism. This is ONE woman's story of regret, healing, and ultimately about forgiving herself so that she could move forward. Is this movie boring? Only if you need CGI and superheroes to call it "exciting." Do people do really adventurous things like taking off alone on a thousand mile trek on foot? Yeah, they do. And most of them actually survive. People have been surviving for thousands of years by striking out on their own without any previous experience or "training." Many years ago I did something very similar to what this woman did in the Sierra Nevadas. Looking back now I know I must have been crazy to do something so unplanned. But it was something I felt I had to do and was also stemmed from a tragic loss. I thought Reese was very believable in this role. The constant flashbacks that seemed to bother all the other reviewers did not bother me in the least. The flashbacks were the unfolding of her life taken in little pieces and in sync with the memories that were ignited within her on her journey. So contrary to the other reviewers, I liked this movie! The soundtrack was right on target with what was happening in each scene. The scenery was stunning, but of course it would be if you've ever been in the area. On foot. I happily gave this movie a rating of 7 out of 10.

----------------------------------------
evanston_dad from United States
----------------------------------------

A wonderful performance from Reese Witherspoon anchors this very good film about a troubled young woman who embarks on a miles-long hike as a sort of personal therapy to deal with the downward spiral of her life in the wake of her mother's (Laura Dern) death. Witherspoon reminds everyone what a good actress she is; I haven't been this impressed by her as an actress since "Election" way back in 1999 (and that includes her overrated Oscar-winning performance in "Walk the Line"). And it's nice to see Laura Dern again, who's popped up here and there over the past many years but has mostly been absent from the movie scene. The movie's editor deftly integrates flashbacks of Dern and Witherspoon together with the character's hike through the wild, and avoids the monotony that usually plagues films when structured this way.

One of the minor miracles of "Wild" is how subtly it explores not just the trials and dangers one would encounter in such a hike, but specifically how those trials and dangers are heightened, or at least are of a different nature, for a woman. Only once in the film is it overtly addressed, but before that scene late in the film, the director and Witherspoon have already conveyed without words how perilous such an adventure could be for a young woman, for whom every encounter with a strange man carries with it the possibility of sexual predation, even if it doesn't materialize (which, the film acknowledges, in most cases it doesn't). At the same time, the film restores one's faith a little bit in humanity, suggesting that most people are decent and kind and willing to help, no strings attached.

Witherspoon and Dern were both justly Oscar nominated for their performances, and the gorgeous Pacific West scenery deserved an award of its own.

Grade: A

----------------------------------------
paintedsolace from Canada
----------------------------------------

This was a great movie and exactly what I needed! I know from now on to not listen to most of the reviews on here at all. They are the opposite of good!? This was along the lines of Into The Wild, not as good but not bad at all and worth watching. Well done! This could be called a chick flick for real women who want substance, Strength and encouragement from the female in the role. When the world gets to much and is sucking your life away- Get the heck out and walk, climb a mountain , ride a horse ! Push the boundaries of what you think you are capable of and learn! I cried , it was good. I didn't know anything about it until I watched it. I have been coming to IMDb to pick movies with good ratings and people giving good reviews. Only to be disappointed time and again. If you like the Idea of the film , you will likely enjoy it as much as I did.

----------------------------------------
xmarinka-34186 from Norway
----------------------------------------

I loved this movie.

My favorite part about this movie is the idea - being true to ones feelings, being destroyed by pain to the point of loosing oneself and having the strength to finding it again; having the strength and incredible will to let go and move on. I find it deep and insightful.

I also like the presentation of this idea - in a simple, very honest way. That's why I think, the symbolism they used fits in so well, even though it's a bit obvious - the heavy bag she carries at the beginning of the journey, bleeding feet, getting new shoes that fit, throwing up (as letting all the bad things out) and coming to the gods bridge. All of these are classic, obvious symbols, which are in tune with the simpleness of the presentation of the idea.

This brings me to another point I like about this movie, how it contrasts this very simple plot and very simple presentation to very complicated 'things' inside the main character. I also have to mention the script, because its loooong time since I have seen/heard such a good script - communicating the drama of one's life without overdoing it.

And OK, there are some factual errors in this movie, but they are not so important and Witherspoon did a great job as an actress and a producer. For me it's her best movie so far.

So to sum it up - strong drama, in simple, honest presentation, inspiring to return to your good self, no matter what may happen. The way we deal with our feelings, is the way we leave.

----------------------------------------
dreamrider from Kentucky
----------------------------------------

Your life will most likely determine whether or not you like this film, whether or not it moves you.

I read the book and was not sure how they were going to make such an introspective novel into a movie but they did a pretty good job. My group of friends had mixed reactions, some of us were deeply moved (myself included) some where wondering why we were...

I felt the way her story was portrayed in flashbacks was very effective and about the only way to tell this story. It can never be as deep as the emotions in the book and it had to skim over a lot but still, for me and others I was with it was very powerful.

On a superficial side note... I wish she had looked dirtier. Her hair and clothes always looked too clean for what she was doing with very minimal hygiene.

----------------------------------------
paul_3-960-896774
----------------------------------------

Wild has a really intriguing premise, the idea of a solo hike does it for me but I was wary that the movie lasted over 100min. What could possibly be entertaining about a women hiking alone from the Mexican border to the Canadian Border? As it turns out quite a lot.

At first, it's hard to understand Cheryl, she definitely does not strike you as a someone who could do this. She bit off more than she can shew, it's clearly naive of her. But as Cheryl is struggling on her hike flashbacks of her life before the Pacific Crest Trails are peppered throughout the movie and like anyone you're getting to know she starts to make sense. You get to understand what she's been through, who she is, and what motivated her to do this. It's a challenge that she brought on herself for herself, something she needed.

And just like that a 115 minutes passes, during which you were taken on physical and soul searching journey with amazing landscapes, and a flawed but strong woman. Reese Witherspoon carries that film beautifully, she layered her performance with sensibility and a quiet strength that suited the character. I didn't totally relate to Cheryl but I wasn't completely impervious to her ordeal, I also have dreams and life-goals to achieve.

On a side note, it was recently pointed out to me I had never seen Wild as the female lead version of Into The Wild. I've never finished Sean Penn & Emile Hirsh's hiking movie but from what I remember Into The Wild was much more wild and raw the dude wasn't on a hiking trail but in the wilderness. These two movies only compare in the drives these two characters have to undertake their journey.

Wild is a beautiful movie about personal growth and living in one's truth. @wornoutspines

----------------------------------------
caseyyau from Canada
----------------------------------------

I am the daughter of a mother who recently passed away from lung cancer. She never smoked, like the protagonist mother. I cried many times during this movie. It made me think a lot because like the lead character, i often ruminate over the past; i have a lot of flashbacks and memories of my mother keep replaying in my head., and the things she said to me will forever echo in my brain. In terms of the sex and the drug taking, i think Resse did very well in portraying the daughter who completely lost herself and the desire to live with the loss of her mother. I also grew up in a single household and my mother and I were always together, our identity are intertwined; it was us against the world. Losing our mother is like losing more than life itself, I am still finding myself lost and struggling to find meaning in life. It is a constant struggle to not give up and give into self destruction and I am very thankful that the protagonist captured this feeling very well.

Like the life of a lot of people, this movie is about the journey we take. Its not about the destination or achieving a particular purpose. It is deeply realistic, and i am glad it doesn't lecture or give a moral lesson on how we should be ,or a happy ending because we don't always get that in life. Life is ugly and it doesn't always end in happiness and things don't always happen for a reason good people do not always get a good ending and normal people can do bad things to themselves and to toh others due to pain brought on by unbearable grief. This movie inspires me to maybe run a marathon.

Walking, hiding and running are very meditative and its like a metaphor for life, no matter what happened, all we can do is keep walking.

----------------------------------------
alwaysdewright
----------------------------------------

Fans of Cheryl Strayed likely come away from this movie feeling reasonably content with the outcome. There's no challenge to the end product or hope for anything more. Reese Witherspoon is a pretty personification that many can put their hopes and dreams and selves into and flutter away to the pretty pictures of mountains for a few fleeting moments in their day. For the rest of us, however, the movie is quite unmemorable and intangible. If anything, we simply watch Strayed (Witherspoon) walk around like an entitled, annoyed bitch for two hours, getting into trouble, doing stupid things, hurting anyone close to her, and then crying over spill milk again and again. And all along there's this audacious overtone telling us we should be feeling sorry for Strayed and her struggles… give me a break.

It's clear Jean-Marc Vallee wanted to produce an Oscar-season prospect, not an accurate or truly vulnerable adaptation. Coming off his success with Dallas Buyers Club, Vallee wanted to shift momentum to a prettier landscape and fill in the rest with exhausting flashbacks for back story. I can visualize what he was aiming for, and it could have been a shoe-in for best picture or certainly best actress. Unfortunately the end product missed the target by thousands of miles. Wild is tiresome, disjointed and certainly not Oscar-worthy material. The big difference between the two films is that Dallas was based on a tremendous story, one of transformation and growth, which is why it resonated so well with audiences. Wild is not a tremendous story, not even a good one, and simply takes the same approach as another vain diatribe, "Eat Pray Love." Essentially, a struggling female writer feels trapped in her life and decides to try something extreme, get herself out of this rut and find purpose (then shockingly decides to write a book about it and capitalize off all the people who want to do the same. CRAZY!). I won't argue that Strayed didn't have a rough go at it. With the death of her mother, her rotten coping mechanisms through anonymous sex and heroin use, the consequent failure of her marriage and the downward spiral of her life, Strayed was headed nowhere before she found the path of the PCT. But that does not excuse how ego-driven and basic Wild is (and is told).

Strayed is the ugliest character in the story. Aside from a terrible voice-over at the end (seriously, WTF was that?), Strayed truly does not change physically, emotionally or in her relationships from beginning to end. Yet somehow the film goes out of its way to make her a hero, innocent and a victim in this crazy world around her. We see this when all the rangers, hikers, townsfolk, even customers at the diner she's waiting at all want to rape her or take advantage. Apparently every man in the 90s was absolutely horrible (even the husband she was cheating on who drove across the country to fetch her out of a drug den and save her life. Hrm…). The most ironic part is how Strayed described in the book that she wanted to sleep with nearly every man that crossed her path (including most men on the trail), and at times she said she had to hold herself back. And that's the worst part of Wild, the blatant, phony feminist propaganda. Feminism is so trendy in pop culture right now that everyone is claiming they're a part of the cause. But it's a word that is completely misappropriated and misused, especially by quite terrible role models such as Cheryl Strayed. She is a woman who wants to desperately be considered a feminist that she adjusts her story to justify her mistakes, even throwing in the line, "I am a feminist," into the movie to frantically convince us. But she's not. Being a selfish, inconsiderate asshole doesn't make you a feminist or a martyr. It makes you a selfish, inconsiderate asshole, and not a person the viewer should want to feel compassion for.

To be honest, one of the best parts of the book was the relationships and perspectives of others who Strayed came across on the trail. We got to hear what they were going through, not just getting hit over the head by a whiny Witherspoon. Yet the theatrical version (again) only focuses on Cheryl and her theoretical struggle with life (i.e. herself). We totally skip over all the other people who in my opinion were the 'therapists' and friends who helped Cheryl to grow and guide her change into a new woman and move beyond her horrible past.

If the story is intended to be one about personal growth and finding oneself, then there is none of that here in this adaptation. For a 15-minute montage Reese is bitching and moaning about hiking and her life, then suddenly we're at the end of the trek and she's telling us about how happy-ever-after things are going to be in the future. It was like Vallee just said, "I'm over it," and decided to end the terrible experiment. By the end of this movie I find myself really caring less about Strayed (even distrusting her more since she signed off on this thing), and I'm insulted by her story and embarrassed that so many embrace her and what she did as some sort of feminist martyrdom. I think Strayed was a stupid girl who did stupid things, and out of sheer blonde luck was able to survive a trek on her own. Even more luck, she was able to turn that mediocre story into millions of dollars in her pocket. So good for her. It's not a terrible movie, just a terrible story about a terrible person who wants us all to believe she's a saint. I don't buy it, and unfortunately I rented the movie… and bought the book.

----------------------------------------
supatube from South Africa
----------------------------------------

An arduous journey across America on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed tests her tenacity to continue forward till the end. There's very little else to the story, which makes this film really powerful. With not much else other than a tedious walk and a vampish past the story bobs back and forth between the present and the past revealing how Cheryl finds herself in such a circumstance and why she cant stop until she is finished.

At first Cheryl seems like a woman unable to let go of her now ex-husband, beginning a journey with more baggage than is necessary. It might almost be easy to throw this story into the bin of sappy chick-flicks when that inability to get closure on a relationships end is actually fronting as more of an act of remorse and regret. She messed up. And there is no way to repair the damage without an ugly scar.

The further she goes the more she dives into the series of events that lead her to such a devastating circumstance of sex and drugs. The loss of her mother is far too much for her to feel. The depth of such pain can sometimes strip a human being from feeling anything at all. The tears flow from her face but those tears are not falling for grief, they drop from the overwhelming numbing the death has caused.

Cheryl's emotions are lost in a wild and desolate space that is pain and grief, which is so perfectly mirrored with the vast, open landscape she is now physically wondering through. And both her emotions and the land are the same: it wont change immediately and things will be tough but if one keeps going forward one will come out of it. And better for it. Cheryl just needed that physical aspect to make the connection with her emotions. The self-loathing and destructive life she was living was the equivalence of her just lying down on the sandy path and dying right there.

It's a fairly event-less film where a woman just goes through some fairly tough terrain but somehow the flashes to her past spliced in with the turmoil of her present moves the story along swimmingly.

If you're a fan of deeply emotional story lines this one might very well be worth the watch.

----------------------------------------
wdiegogarcia
----------------------------------------

Realistic performance of Reese Witherspoon. An history about the life as it is. A movie to watch and review in your mind later. I like drama movies that you suffer as you are watching but give you things to think later, this is this type of movie. Wild is a one-character movie but the little pieces of the secondary characters are so well introduced that allows to introduce drama, fear, suspense and romanticism to the history. If I need to say something wrong about the movie is that in some passages there is lack of continuity and feels as if the movie was longer at the beginning and the director need to cut it to do it shorter.

hiking|grief|loss of mother|mother daughter relationship|female protagonist|backpack|back to nature|cancer|death of mother|male full frontal nudity|squatting to defecate|toenail removal|hairy chest|still images during end credits|long distance hiking|caught naked|hot day|female nudity|1990s|year 1995|horse|forest|taking a shower|female in shower|crying woman|water bottle|skinny dipping|new beginning|cheating on husband|tent|snow|hiking trail|national forest|llama|ex husband ex wife relationship|boxer briefs|desert|california|female rear nudity|sex scene|sex standing up|male nudity|male pubic hair|male underwear|male rear nudity|bare chested male|hike|death|journey|heroin|self discovery|barefoot female|female frontal nudity|vomiting|talking to one's self|mother son relationship|bare butt|defecation|bridge|audience|rapids|hippie|blood|knife|singer|mist|pet dog|interview|shovel|thermos|mountain|scream|reference to walt whitman|reference to bob marley|microphone|mailbox|skier|reference to robert frost|grave|bow and arrow|hypodermic needle|rear entry sex|intravenou|skiing|reference to stevie ray vaughan|on the road|reference to flannery o'connor|horseback|reference to james a. michener|panic|washroom|caterpillar|animal|reference to joni mitchell|nature|reference to erica jong|student|shower|teacher|guitarist|based on a true story|musician|stage|bra|whistle|diner|bar|woods|package|making out|little girl|reference to marie curie|classroom|wilderness|pain|listening to radio|cabin|rain|lake|bedridden|therapist|boots|cow|anger|prayer|compass|drugs|reporter|tumor|bus|tears|oil lamp|stream|crying|letter|pregnancy|pubic hair|book|lantern|hot stove|camping|tattoo artist|pick up truck|isolation|gunshot|flashlight|campfire|rifle|bechdel test passed|pipe smoking|physical challenge|street|city|revolver|tractor|fear|highway|brother sister relationship|motel room|motel clerk|motel|taking a picture|sunset|singing|little boy|child|bonfire|killing a horse|alcohol|whiskey bottle|diary|flirting|reference to jerry garcia|fog|hunter|mugging|down syndrome|heroine|wading across a river|waitress|hallucination|new shoes|lying in bed together|family in bed together|st. patrick's day|cd|camera|film camera|care package|pay phone|telephone call|phone booth|freelance journalist|hundred dollar bill|interviewer|abortion|pregnancy test|hospitality|friendly stranger|talking with a stranger|stranger in town|stranger|creek|river|winter|portland oregon|snowing|snake|mojave rattlesnake|tattoo parlor|tattooed woman|mojave desert|night|dinner|ex drug addict|sex addiction|heroin addiction|reno nevada|terminal illness|doctor|nurse|hospital bed|hospital visit|hospital|therapy|sexual promiscuity|junkie|promiscuous woman|rattlesnake|one word title|hitchhiker|thirst|hitchhiking|bruise|tattoo|divorce|identity crisis|flashback|forest ranger|fox|drug addiction|drug addict|hiking boots|hiker|based on book|title spoken by character|black panties|panties|caught having sex|oral sex|breast fondling|cunnilingus|sex with clothes on|having sex with skirt hiked up|sex with a stranger|sex in an alley|casual sex|condom|male in towel|

AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Argentina:16 / Australia:MA15+ / Brazil:16 / Canada:14A (British Columbia) / Chile:14 / Finland:K-12 (original rating) / Finland:K-16 (re-rating) / France:Tous publics (with warning) / Germany:12 / Hong Kong:III / Ireland:15A / Japan:R15+ / Mexico:B-15 / Netherlands:6 / New Zealand:R16 / Philippines:R-16 / Singapore:M18 (cut) / South Korea:18 / Spain:16 / Sweden:11 / Switzerland:12 / UK:15 / USA:R (certificate #49135)