Posted on 09/20/2007 9:40:48 AM PDT by dead
TORONTO - Sean Penn made a disheartening discovery on his latest trip to Alaska this summer: Someone had walked off with a pair of boots that had sat in an old bus in the wilderness for almost 15 years.
The bus had become something of a shrine for Christopher McCandless, the subject of Penn's latest movie, "Into the Wild," a young man who died of starvation there in 1992 after four months of trying to live off the land.
McCandless had taken shelter in the bus, which still held pots, pans and other artifacts he left behind after all those years. His boots had remained on director Penn's previous trips to scout locations and film the movie, which opens Friday, starring Emile Hirsch as McCandless.
But two months ago, Penn went camping at the bus site with Jon Krakauer, whose best-seller was the basis for the film.
"Somebody took off their own boots and replaced them with Chris' boots," Penn said in an interview last week at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Into the Wild" played. "The boots that were left behind were better than Chris," making clear to Penn that the perpetrator wasn't simply looking to upgrade his footwear.
"I can't help but think it was related to some of the imminent discussion about the movie coming, and somebody hungering to have an eBay item," Penn said.
McCandless' story made national headlines, prompting both sympathy for his experiment in self-denial and criticism that he brought his fate on himself for trekking ill-equipped and ill-prepared into a harsh land.
His death followed a two-year trek around North America in which McCandless sought to divest himself of the trappings of the material world and live life at its simplest.
Sounds like a real Darwin Award Candidate, figures Penn would make a movie about this loser.
I recommend Krakauer’s book. Don’t skip the introduction.
Was the guy a vegetarian?
Perhaps ol’ Spicoli can next entertain us by following in the footsteps of Timothy Treadwell...?
Darwin was wrong.
That was Krakauer’s impression also, before he started research on the book. His theory is that this kid was an absolute genius, who died because . . . well, I don’t want to give away the book . . . it’s that good.
“...somebody hungering to have an eBay item,”
It will be easy enough to determine if they actually turn up on ebay.
Would it constitute theft or were they located on public property?
And what is it called when someone makes a commerical film about a dead person? Will his family receive payments or not?
The movie premiered in Fairbanks. Some of the locals interviewed by the News-Miner were worried that more stupid people would come to Alaska and meet the same end. They’re very practical up there.
I feel sorry for the guy that died, but I’m gonna have to vote “yes” on the Darwin Award.
Sounds like a classic example of when Dirty Harry said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
"The boots that were left behind were better
Hey, free boot upgrade!
I have difficulty imagining how he reaches any conclusion other than the guy was a complete bonehead.
Romantic, wistful, original, colorful, idealistic, whatever, but still a bonehead at the root.
Starving to death is one of those natural things that happens to hunter-gatherers who “live life at its simplest”.
Especially when the hunter-gatherer is a naive, new age city dweller, who doesn’t know how to hunt or gather, and thinks all that’s required to live off the land is shedding your clothes and hanging out in the woods with the squirrels.
I hear it's "euphoric."
Just added that book to my Amazon queue, thanks! Have you read, “Under the Banner” by him? Great book. :o)
The true experience of wilderness is awesome and spiritual enough, but coupling that with romantic illusion of what you want it to be can be fatal. Ultimately it's disrespectful as well. Respect it or it can kill you.
(1) Alexander Supertramp (the name that McCandless preferred to go by) spent his entire time in the Alaskan "wilderness" in the summer - when edible plants and game are plentiful.
(2) He spent his entire time in the Alaskan "wilderness" 20 miles from a highway.
(3) The "impassable" river he blamed for his isolation and inability to travel out of the "wilderness" was easily passable by a hand operated tram less than a mile away from where he was camped. In other words - he walked to the river, figured he couldn't get across it and walked back. If he had spent an hour or so trying to find a fording point he would have found the tram.
(4) The entire time he was in the Alaskan "wilderness" he was a few miles from a Park Service emergency hiking shelter stocked with food and supplies.
If he had bothered to invest in a map, he would have survived. He starved to death partially out of stupidity but also partially out of sheer laziness.
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because uh some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for."
She may be an idiot, but at least she's still alive.
I urge everyone to read the book before seeing the movie. The movie will ruin the book--guaranteed.
Excepts:
"Some Alaskans have negative views of both McCandless and those who romanticize his fate. McCandless was unaware that a hand-operated tram crossed the river a quarter mile from the Stampede Trail, while a nearby shelter was stocked with emergency supplies, as described in Krakauer's book.
Judith Kleinfeld wrote in the Anchorage Daily News, that "many Alaskans react with rage to his stupidity. You'd have to be a complete idiot, they say, to die of starvation in summer 20 miles off the Parks Highway."
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