Into the Wild bollocks

WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS - I just watched Into the Wild - the true story of Chris McCandless, who upon graduating from University gave away his savings and went on an adventure - living wild.

Basically he was pissed with his parents and was determined to show he wasn't as preoccupied with money and possessions etc etc as they were and that he wasn't having a bar of their dysfunctional relationship. Now while you can admire the idea and spirit behind his actions - I think he was fundamentally selfish and incredibly irresponsible.

Sure he was making a point against his parents - but really would it have been so bad to at least call his sister to ease their worry? For two and a half years their son was missing - they had no idea where he was - or if he was safe or even alive.

After two years wandering around America he headed up to Alaska to live in the harsh wilderness. Now he had no experience in hunting and was totally unprepared - he even turned down a map and compass FFS! Given his lack of hunting skill he was only able to catch small game like birds etc (he did kill a moose - but had no clue how to preserve the meat) and slowly but surely he brought himself closer to death through malnutrition.

After 5 or so months in the wilderness he realised he was fucked, and tried to get out but the river he crossed on the way in had risen - so he couldn't get out. The stupidest thing is that if he had taken the proper map - he would have known there was a hand operated tramway crossing 400m downstream!

The movie also suggests that the berries he ate were toxic - but apparently his autopsy showed no signs of poison - he just plain starved.

He could have walked out - but instead he died of starvation. Apparently his body weighed only 67 pounds - 30 kilos roughly.

Naturally he has become something of a hero to fellow wanderers and apparently since this film came out people have been making the pilgrimage to the abandoned bus that McCandless lived and died in at Denali National Park in Alaska.

For my mind there is probably something to the speculation that he had some sort of mental illness (bipolar? Schizophrenia?) because he basically created a situation that would inevitably lead to his death - which you could even argue was suicide. Or he was just an arrogant little upstart who ultimately paid the price for his irresponsible actions.

Either way I don't think he should be held up as some sort of hero - sure his sentiments may have been worthy, but the way he went about it was plain dumb.