“What the fuck have I done?” This sentiment echoes like a heartbeat through the first scenes of “Wild,” based on the bestselling memoir, as inexperienced hiker Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon, “Mud”) begins her 1,100 mile journey to emotional recovery on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed’s pain is introduced even before she is, through the groans of agony that come from a black screen, leading to an image of her torn-up feet due to hiking hundreds of miles in ill-fitting boots. Though she loses her boots, she continues to walk through both her emotional and physical pain.
Wild
B
Michigan Theater and Quality 16
Fox Searchlight Pictures
As Strayed first sets out on the trail, the audience is forced to play connect-the-dots with jagged flashbacks to put together the course of events that led her there. Though she has recently endured a divorce with her ex-husband Paul (Thomas Sadoski, “The Newsroom”), the true tragedy of her life is the death of her mother (Laura Dern, “Enlightened”), whose optimistic and curious spirit is introduced in dreamy but short scenes. After losing her mother, whom she describes as “the love of my life,” Strayed embarked on a rampage of self-destruction, including the heroin use and promiscuity that result in her divorce and odyssey on the PCT.
Some of the most anxiety-provoking scenes come not from the life-threatening conditions or rattlesnakes, but from the sole idea of a woman hiking alone for 94 days. A naïve and inexperienced hiker, Strayed often relies on the kindness of strangers for rides, food and encouragement in ways that her male hiking counterparts cannot. However, the double-edged sword of this help rears an ugly head in the form of unwanted attention from severely creepy male hunters. Later when Strayed meets with fellow hikers, they dub her “The Queen of PCT,” because strange men are always willing to help her. Strayed’s weary smile at this supposed “gift” forces the audience to look deeper into the fist-clenching nervousness felt whenever she is alone and confronted by a man on the trail. The irony is that while these men perceive women like Strayed as blessed to receive favors and male attention, there is always an underlying danger present that they do not recognize.
Witherspoon’s portrayal of the emotionally distant Strayed is authentic and well-done, but could have used more assistance from the supporting characters. Unsurprisingly, the film’s most touching moments come from her interactions with her mother and her brutally honest best friend Aimee (Gaby Hoffmann, “Obvious Child”). Her exchanges with them show who Strayed was before her life went to hell, and why an audience should care that she finds her way back. When trapped in the confines of her own internal monologue, Strayed can become almost intolerably self-aggrandizing and pretentious. But in between eye-roll-provoking proclamations of “how wild it all is,” Strayed proves herself to be funny, self-reliant and strong.
Directed beautifully by Jean-Marc Vallée, the film alternates between long shots of the harsh but stunning wilderness and close-ups of Witherspoon’s grimy, makeup-free face. He grounds the narrative well, as a love story between a mother and a daughter. Strayed walks her way to being the woman that her mother raised, letting the audience experience the lessons learned with each footstep.