He went looking for America but couldn’t find it.

That’s not actually the tag line that was used to advertise 2007’s Into The Wild but perhaps it should have been.  Based on the true story of Chris McCandless, a college graduate who gave away all of his money and then roamed the country for two years before starving to death in an abandoned bus in Alaska, Into The Wild seems to be Sean Penn’s attempt to make a modern-day Easy Rider.  Just as Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda crossed the country and met several different people over the course of that seminal road film, Into The Wild follows Emile Hirsch’s Chris McCandless as he takes on the identity of Alexander Supertramp and hikes across the continent.  Along the way, he meets and befriends hippies (Catherine Keener and Brian H. Dierker), blue collar workers (Vince Vaughn), wayward teenagers (Kristen Stewart), and, most poignantly, a retired man (Hal Holbrook) who sincerely tries to help Chris make peace with his wanderlust.

You would think that this would be the type of film that would bring out Sean Penn’s worst directorial instincts but Penn actually directs with a very real sensitivity and a willingness to see the good in just about everyone that Chris meets.  It is true that, especially at the start of the film, Chris can sometimes be a bit difficult to take.  He’s so self-righteous and sure of himself.  He mistakes his college diploma for being a badge of experience and occasionally, he can come across as being incredibly condescending.  But, as the film progresses, Chris starts to realize that he doesn’t know everything and that he can’t do everything by himself.  Sometimes, he does need help, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.  The film’s most moving moments feature Chris and Hal Holbrook’s Ron Franz.  Ron has the years of experience that Chris lacks and Ron also becomes one of the few people to whom Chris is willing to truly listen.  And yet, when Ron offers to adopt Chris and give him a permanent home, Chris’s response is to promise to talk to him about it when Chris returns from Alaska.  As Chris leaves, it’s obvious that Ron knows that he’s never going to see Chris again.  Dying in Alaska, Chris finally makes some sort of inner peace with the parents (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) and the sister (Jena Malone) that he earlier abandoned.  It’s an amazingly touching scene.  Penn, whose other directorial efforts have been a bit didactic, seems to be willing to grant a certain grace to everyone in the film, even those whose politics or cultural attitudes he might not necessarily share.  Penn not only captures the visual beauty of the America wilderness but also the beauty of the people, a beauty that too many other directors chose to downplay.

It’s a strong film and certainly the best of Penn’s directorial efforts.  Emile Hirsch is not always likable as Chris but, then again, the heart of the film is found in the people that Hirsch meets and Penn gets excellent performances from his entire supporting cast.  Hal Holbrook received a much deserved Oscar nomination.  I also liked Vince Vaughn’s performance as guy who teaches Chris about hard work before getting arrested for stealing cable and also Jena Malone as Chris’s sister, the one person who understands him, even if she’s not invited to travel with him.

Into The Wild is a poignant portrayal of  both wanderlust and the often-neglected corners of America.  Did Chris find a little of something that he was looking for before he died in that bus?  One can only hope.