movie "into the wild" - spoiler -

[awfoxden]

from what little i saw on what this movie was about i was thinking it would be something to do with living the dream only a few such as wild woman has acomplished. getting into the wild and making a good life out of it. i was expecting some home steading and survival outdoor type, although i knew it wasn't a documentory.

i just watched this movie last night. i think this guy was a, what term do you guys use? a wilderness numpty? as the movie progressed i didn't think he would make it out of alaska alive. what a moron. by the way - finding and living in someone elses cabin "magic bus" isn't exactly what i would think of as getting away from it all and making your own way. it's a tragedy, but what was he thinking? mother nature is not forgiving or romantic. being essentually unprepared for bush life this guy was asking to die of starvation. that moose he shot should have easily got him through the summer if he knew what to do with the meat once shot. instead he ruined most and the rest was taken by nature.

so is there any good movies or documenteries out there for homesteading and outdoor survival type that you guys would recomend - both informational and for enjoyment of watching.

[trax]

I couldn't agree more, but on the flip side a lot of people can watch it and say, "well then, don't do things that way" I watched it and thought "well there's about an hour and a half of my life that I can't get back"

[Sarge47]

from what little i saw on what this movie was about i was thinking it would be something to do with living the dream only a few such as wild woman has acomplished. getting into the wild and making a good life out of it. i was expecting some home steading and survival outdoor type, although i knew it wasn't a documentory.

i just watched this movie last night. i think this guy was a, what term do you guys use? a wilderness numpty? as the movie progressed i didn't think he would make it out of alaska alive. what a moron. by the way - finding and living in someone elses cabin "magic bus" isn't exactly what i would think of as getting away from it all and making your own way. it's a tragedy, but what was he thinking? mother nature is not forgiving or romantic. being essentually unprepared for bush life this guy was asking to die of starvation. that moose he shot should have easily got him through the summer if he knew what to do with the meat once shot. instead he ruined most and the rest was taken by nature.

so is there any good movies or documenteries out there for homesteading and outdoor survival type that you guys would recomend - both informational and for enjoyment of watching.

1st, you should read the book that the movie; "Into The Wild" was based on as it goes into much more detail. Next, Check out "Alone In The Wilderness", the story of Dick Poerenke.(Hope I spelled that right.) It's great! More later.

[Stony]

yes, i also say read the book!
i did so a few years ago and know already then that some bozo will make a movie out of it, butchering it badly.
(i won't watch it)
in the book they say the boones found where from a caribou and not a moose.

did they use a .22 in the movie -as he did in the book?

[zaebra]

i agree about reading the book. it's not a survivalist story, it's a story about a young idealist who drops everything to try to find himself by journeying "into the wild". it's a personal journey story, not a survival how-to.

but yes, he gets pretty much everything wrong.

[trax]

why ask questions about a movie that you won't watch? Anyway, that's what he told one person in the story that he'd be taking and he blasts away at the moose with about six or seven shots I think.

So, if he let an entire caribou go to waste instead of letting an entire moose go to waste and then eats some toxic root because he's starving, does it make him less dead? The guy in the movie clearly didn't know what he was doing. It wasn't just the hunting, he really didn't know what he was doing.

[Aurelius95]

I watched the movie the other day, but I read the book last summer. National Geographic Adventure magazine did a piece on the movie/book last year. Sean Penn bought the rights to the film back in the 90's, but his family didn't want the movie made. Not sure why they relented, because they came out as quite dysfunctional.I don't know if the author, Jon Krakauer, was being sympathetic to the kid, but he didn't try to paint him as an idiot. My take on all of it:

Chris McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, was looking for a lot more than just the wilderness. He totally abandoned his previous life and completely cut himself off from his family, and in general, modern living. It was as if everything that we do in life (modern living, American culture) was a sickness he needed to rid himself of. He gave away all his money, spurned working for a living, and wanted to live for himself, all along sacrificing modern convenience by replacing it with mental and physical self-flagellation.

For the last 2 years of his life, he lived as a homeless man with just his books, intellect and short-lived friendships to stimulate him. He was unprepared to head into the Alaskan wilderness. He brought 10 pounds of rice, a book on edible plants, a .22 rifle, sleeping bag and some other minimal necessities. He didn't have a compass or a map. And the kicker is, at least according to the book, is that a mile from where he crossed the river was a ranger basket for crossing during high water. A map would have saved his life!

Anyway, enough of the rant. Parts of what he did were admirable, but mostly, his overwhelming foolishness cost him his life.

[trax]

A well done synopsis aurelius, thank you. He should have joined a monastery

[canid]

i don't know why you refer to him as the guy in the movie, when he was an actual person, but i have to make this point. he knew what he was doing for two years before he went to alaska. he wasn't well enough prepared for the environment he went to live in, but he seemed to have known that going in. that was his choice.

as for eating a toxic root, it was a plant documented to be edible and long used for food. it is still speculative whether the seeds of the root he had been eating [which are nowhere mentioned to be toxic] where what killed him. they still aren't known to be toxic. the fact is that even prolonged illness from the weather could easily have done the same.

no matter how prepred you are, circumstances can always conspire to kill you.

i highly agree with aurelius; in this case a map would have saved his life. did he want one?

[Aurelius95]

A well done synopsis aurelius, thank you. He should have joined a monastery

LOL Trax!

Did anybody happen to read Into Thin Air- another Jon Krakauer book? It was about a fiasco that occurred on Mt. Everest in 1996 where 8 people died in a major FUBAR moment. Anyway, in my opinion, it's worth a read to get his take on the events.

[trax]

I referred to the 'guy in the movie' in comparison to whatever the book might have said, having never read the book. I don't believe for one second that circumstances conspire to kill a person. Poor planning and lack of skills are only circumstances because they're self-inflicted circumstances.

[canid]

great book aswell.

now my turn, has anybody read any of his Outside articles? i've not had the chance.

trax: i get you there. as for the circumstnces, you can never prepare for everything, and you aren't under obligation to try. people are welcome to make mistakes, even fatal ones.

[Sourdough]

Into the wild...is not about the wild.
The river swelling, is a symbol representing all of the emotions, the people he met, the feelings, all surging back and flooding him (hence the urge to go back to them)...crossing the river was never part of "the plan".
Him misreading the name of plants, is us misreading each-other.
Into the wild...is not about the wild.

Nothing is what it appears, All real "original" experience ends very early in life, most of what we call real is a mind loop of some similar earlier event. We live in a illusion of symbols of yesterdays. Most humans would pay any price, even death for "Real Original Experience" as an adult, and may do just that.

[trax]

So the guy isn't real dead?

[Sourdough]

Are you really alive, if so how do you know, and who is the you who is doing the "KNOWING".......??????? And where is your "MIND". The mind is an illusion. You will not find a body part called "MIND". You think it is something that your brain does or is part of the brain. But there is no mind. Who are you really, and who is the you who is doing the knowing. Are you the Experience of knowing or are you the observer of the one doing the knowing.....????

[trax]

OK...1. yes 2. cuz I said so 3. me

don't go getting all zen or tao on my azz bud, you been talkin' to the pine trees and squirrels too long up there.

[Sourdough]

I have learned a great deal from conversations with pine trees, and rocks.

[trax]

I have learned a great deal from conversations with pine trees, and rocks.

Me too,actually, one of the most important things the trees taught me was "don't go all zen or tao on peoples' azzes" I remember that one really good. And a rock told me once, "pick me up and throw me at that guy. He'll decided if he's alive or not when he sees me coming" Yep, that was a good one alright.

[Sourdough]

Talked to some very old rocks in Oaxaca, Mexico.

[trax]

OK, I'll quit kidding around about it for a moment. Yes, rocks do have a lot of wisdom and it is possible to get them to share it. That's it, back to being a goof for me now.