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Friday, April 26, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD WILD
EDITOR'S PICK
'Wild'
is a road film about self-inflicted torture and liberation. It is about setting
goals and forging ahead with your resolution. It's also about endurance and how 'Problems don't stay as problems, they change to something else'.
Scripted by Nick Hornby, based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir - 'Wild: From
Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail', it details Strayed's 1,100-mile
hike from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon-Washington border and tells the story
of the personal struggles that compelled her to take the hike.
The film starts off in a dramatic manner. We hear Strayed (Witherspoon) panting,
pained and exhausted, seated at the edge of the cliff with her backpack stacked
next to her, nursing her badly wounded feet.
She notices her dismembered toe-nail and yanks it off causing her to
accidentally drop one of her shoes in the valley. Frustrated about the journey
and loss of her shoe, she hurls abuses and flings the other shoe in the valley
and continues her journey.
This sets the mood and tone of Vallee's 'Wild' and sums up the
message: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
The film is layered. Narrated in a non-linear fashion, it encapsulates Strayed's
physical as well as mental journey after the death of her mother, her failed
marriage and her wild ways of living.
With suspense and style, warmth and humour, the film sparkles. Apart from
powerfully capturing the terrors and pleasures of the trip, it unveils Strayed's
catharsis and grief especially in terms of her relationship with her husband,
mother and brother.
Director Valle, who had earlier delivered Oscar-winning film 'The Dallas
Buyer's Club' has intelligently crafted 'Wild'. He has a distinct
style that is compelling and it works.
'Wild' may not be an excellent piece of art but with the right balance
of melancholic and cheerful moments along with effective performances, he grips
you and keeps you hooked.
Packed with raw wounds and emotions, Witherspoon breathes life into the
emotionally down and weather-beaten Strayed. You can sense her fear and feel her
pain and pleasures.
But it is Dern, as the warm and matronly Bobbi Grey, Strayed's mother who steals
the show with her strong emotional act.
Thomas Sadoski as Strayed's husband Paul is functional. Probably, it is his
limited screen time and underwritten character graph that does not work for him.
The other co-stars who have their moments of glory are Kevin Rankin as fellow
wanderer Greg and Mo Mcrae as Jimmy Carter the ridiculously funny reporter from
Hobo Times. They definitely leave an impact even in limited screen time.
Shot on a digital camera, cinematographer Yves Belanger's frames from unusual
angles are a treat to watch. But it is the sound team that has done a dazzling
job. They have captured nature in all its glory. The sound of the crickets,
desert breeze, the storm, the rain and the echo alternating with the pin-drop
silence is all captured brilliantly.
Though slow and meandering, 'Wild' will appeal to cinephiles.
