Into The Wild

So Fred and I have decided to try doing a "dual blog" since we are both fans of the film Into The Wild. One of our favorite soundtracks is also one of our favorite movies, and books. "Into the Wild" is a true story, with a soundtrack by musician Eddie Vedder which is haunting and brilliant and uplifting and sad. A score that truly films the film.

"Into the Wild" tells the (true) story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who abandons his college life to find himself by hiking and living a life across the United States in 1990. McCandless made news when his body was discovered two years later in Alaska, where he had been living off the land inside an abandoned bus on National Park land. Director Sean Penn and musician Eddie Vedder came together to compose a soundtrack to the film that tells Christopher's story, and the result is one of the most haunting and joyous albums we've ever encountered.



If you are not familiar with Eddie Vedder, he is a member of the band "Pearl Jam" who have been recording music since the early 90's. Although many associate the band with a hard rock/grunge sound, they have recorded music and been influenced by Neil Young, and Vedder has also released a solo album of ukulele songs. The soundtrack for "Into the Wild" is much like the film itself: an emotional and gut wrenching experience, a story of beauty and joy, of discovery and adventure, and a tale of sadness and loss. This is a true "solo" project as Vedder handled  every instrument heard on the record.  Vedder had previously worked with Penn for the soundtrack to 1995's "Dead Man Walking" and also contributed a cover of The Beatles' "You've got to hide your love away" for the Penn's 2001 film "I am Sam".

To achieve a folk sound for the album, Vedder used a mandolin and a fretless bass. Most of the songs are original compositions. One exception was arguably the best song on the soundtrack, Indio'ss song "Hard Sun" which had a music video recorded for it and reached #13 on music chart. "Hard Sun" features backing vocals by Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney. The sound of the album clearly has roots of Neil Young and Bob Dylan with a shadow of a Joni Mitchell type somber tone. The soundtrack is truly vital in the sense that is a major contributor to the film and shares a great deal in telling the story while exhibiting such tangible emotion. Jonah Weiner of Blender magazine described the sound accurately as " It's the sound of a twenty four year old accepting death, as imagined by a lifelong misfit aging gracefully".

Some of the music Vedder performed inspired his work on the next Pearl Jam album. A chord from from "Tuolumne" led to the song "Just Breathe" on their latest album.

"Into the Wild" is by no means a happy film although it is filled with moments of excitement and joy. The tale of Christopher McCandless is a lesson in safety and caution. Disenfranchised youth in the early 1990s were coined as Generation X by author Douglas Coupland, and many of them rebelled against the corporate wall street image of the 1980s and sought a different lifestyle, a different kind of music (Grunge). This film and the music capture a little bit of that era, from the flannel style clothing worn by Christopher to his adventures traveling across the country, living off the land and generosity of the people he met and befriended. The film and music are quite poignant in that we are watching a film that takes place in a very pivotal era that changed music but sadly ended far too early. The film offers a gift at making the viewer feel the need to get out and live. To "see" all of the everyday blessings all around us that we usually take for granted. Although Into The Wild is at times a bit bleak, there is an uplifting message you will walk away with. 

Many critics have been critical of the stupidity of McCandless and the manner in which he died. Accidents and death in nature often could have been prevented or been less harrowing (In "127 Hours" a hiker spends days with his arm trapped between a fallen boulder because nobody knew where he was) but these stories are out there and make us think and feel.

We recommend you reserve the book/soundtrack/movie/ for "Into The Wild"  from the library and please share your thoughts with us on them. 

-William & Fred