Wild

Reese Witherspoon gives a fantastic performance in the adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 memoir

Films revolving around the main characters ‘finding themselves’ is hardly anything new. Ranging from 2007’s Into the Wild to 2010’s Eat Pray Love, the solo-journey-to-self-discovery sub-genre is well trodden territory. So right off the bat Wild (based off of the 2012 bestseller) has the difficult task of giving the viewer a reason to care about this one. And it does. Regardless of the similarities between the films, each character has their own separate journey that makes the film engaging and worth watching. Wild is no exception.

Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl Strayed, a woman whose life is falling apart. She’s an ex-heroin addict, her marriage has crumbled due to her promiscuity, and her optimistic mother Bobbi (a great Laura Dern that manages to do a heck of a lot with her supporting role), the center of her world, has recently died. Everything that mattered in her life—and everything that she knew about herself—seems to have died along with her. So, in an effort build herself back up to her best self, she sets out on a three month, 1,000-plus mile solo hiking trip on the Pacific Crest trail.

Cheryl’s journey is harrowing, heart-breaking, inspiring, and hilarious—the last of which evidenced by a funny scene with her “Monster Pack” (which becomes a running joke) that shows how hard her journey is going to be before she even starts it). And just like life, it can’t be categorized by one thing. Witherspoon, washed out and make-up free, gives a great performance as a woman desperate to be the person she (and her mother) knew she could be. It’s raw, believable, and her stripped-down appearance and attitude fully gives the viewer the opportunity to relate to her. Though there’s quite a bit of scenes where it’s just Cheryl and the wilderness, Witherspoon plays her wonderfully as she goes back and forth from being guarded to incredibly emotive and vulnerable, putting to bed any doubts about her acting skills in the process. In Wild, you’re not watching Reese Witherspoon; you’re watching Cheryl Strayed. Witherspoon also produced the film and her passionate involvement pays off. She brings Cheryl to life as much as the role does for her.

Though it would’ve been nice to see more scenes or reflections about her past, hardships, and time spent with her mother (any excuse to see more of Laura Dern’s beautiful performance, please), we’re given enough that we can understand Cheryl on a personal level and fill in the blanks ourselves.

With the focus of the film staying on one character’s journey, it would’ve been very easy for it to fall prey to monotony. However, this isn’t the case. The film is never boring as the hiking scenes are interspersed with flashbacks to Cheryl’s past in addition to her interactions with people that she meets along the way—some for the better (which is some of where the film’s humor comes from)—some not so much. In one of the films more hilarious scenes a man mistakes her for a hobo, unbelieving her claims that she’s a hiker and that a woman would willingly set off by herself.

Due to the reflective quality of the film, Wild does jump around in time a bit (which is a little jarring at first, but flows better as the film progresses) but not enough that it becomes confusing. It would’ve made for a better flowing film if the flashbacks had smoother transitions, but the flashbacks themselves are equally captivating as the present action that it almost doesn’t matter when they appear. Each segment is like a little treat, a look back at Strayed’s life before her hike. In showing the highs in her life (her relationship with her mother, mainly) along with the bad (her promiscuity, drug use, and generally self-destructive behavior), we’re given an unbiased look at her life; and though she admits that some things from her past are difficult to revisit, her reflection on them gives us an emotionally honest portrayal of a woman who truly wants to heal.

Like this year’s Nightcrawler was for Jake Gyllenhaal, Wild is very much a character study of Cheryl in addition to a meditation on life, being your best self, and to what degree our life experiences (no matter how undesirable) have made us the people that we are. And while it’s uncertain if anyone setting out on a journey like Cheryl’s will have similar healing effects, Wild at least lets us know that it—finding inner peace through self-reflection—is possible.

8.5/10