Wild (Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Tom Sadoski) – Cheryl Strayed walked the 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to the Canadian border in 1995. Her memoir was adapted for the screen by author/screenwriter Nick Hornby and attracted Reese Witherspoon as both a producer and to star in this independent film.
Wild is one of the “journey of self-discovery” films that tell compelling stories of troubled people who need time on their own to come to grips with their misspent lives. Much like the Emile Hirsch vehicle Into the Wild, this Wild is less about man against nature than woman against her past. It is reminiscent of last year’s All Is Lost, for which Robert Redford received a Golden Globe nomination as the sailor whose lonely journey made for a gripping film. Witherspoon, like Redford, is in almost every frame of the movie. And these days, it is a lot more satisfying watching Reese for two hours than Bob.
Wild is raw. The many flashbacks to her past serve as both background and prologue to Cheryl’s motivation to use her three-month journey to come to grips with her mother’s death, the end of her marriage, and her plummet into self-destruction.
The hike does not start well but her resolve in undeniable. Along the way, she gets help but she also gets scared. As creatures, weather, injuries and other obstacles confront her, Cheryl is haunted by her past. Her willingness to trust herself and others is tested.
Wild is less an adventure than an obstacle course. It is a tour-de-force for an Oscar-winning actress who allows herself to look less than glamorous and to bare herself in ways that may just break her purely wholesome image. Reese is the real deal and has shown great range since her breakout roles in Pleasantville and Election.
But she has rarely seemed daring enough to take a movie on her shoulders and carry it over the line. She certainly does in Wild, a film that is a bit too long but is a worthy addition to Reese’s pieces.