See It at the Movies

WILD

with Joyce & Don Fowler
Posted 12/30/14

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(True story of woman's 1,000-mile trek)

Reese Witherspoon stars as Cheryl Strayed, the brave, troubled, independent woman who hiked over 1,000 miles from southern California to …

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See It at the Movies

WILD

Posted

* * * *

(True story of woman's 1,000-mile trek)

Reese Witherspoon stars as Cheryl Strayed, the brave, troubled, independent woman who hiked over 1,000 miles from southern California to Washington state along the Pacific Crest Trail with absolutely no experience and survived to write a best-selling book about her life and her life-renewing journey.

The movie is told with numerous flashbacks; some that help explain why she chose to take the arduous journey and some that break the continuity of the experience. We learn about Strayed’s checkered past through the flashbacks and through her whispered thoughts along the trail.

Witherspoon is terrific as Strayed, both in the scenes of her early struggles with a bad marriage, the death of her mother (Laura Dern), drug addiction and casual sex, and her battles with inexperience, weather, fatigue and obstacles along the trail. She faces a variety of challenges, both human and natural, along the way, has self-doubts, gets help from strangers and completes her journey.

It is difficult to believe that anyone would hike 1,000 miles without reading an instruction manual on experimenting with such basics as putting up a tent or starting a fire, but that's what she did.

The scenery is beautiful. The people she encounters are interesting. Nothing extraordinary happens, as the film centers on the everyday challenges of her life and her journey. Now we need to go back and read the book to fully appreciate what was going on in her head.

Rated R, with profanity and nudity.

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