"The traveller is only passing through. He cannot understand your point of view."

[claidheamhmor]

Last night we watched a DVD, Into The Wild. I'm too lazy to type up a summary, so this is the plot summary from IMDB:

After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

It was directed by Sean Penn, and I must say, done very, very well. Acting was superb, and we got the feeling it was entirely real - almost a documentary in some ways. The true story made us think a lot too, about how people impinge on others' lives: Christopher, for example, moved through people's lives, affecting them deeply, but he himself was an observer, moving on untouched.

At the end, one of the insights Christopher comes to is this: "Happiness only real when shared." Thinking about that, I think he was right; you can enjoy yourself alone, but for much of life, the best happiness comes from sharing experiences with others.

Something I was thinking about this morning was how lucky Americans are when it comes to the wilderness of their country: it's a place where you can travel or hike or live off the land, because the land is not "owned". Here in South Africa, and I think in much of the UK or Europe, it's hard to find places that don't belong to someone and aren't fenced. For example, if I wanted to explore the land in South Africa, I'm not even sure where I'd go: most places, even seemingly uninhabited ones, are owned by people, and fenced off. Places like the national parks are also fenced, but perhaps a bit dangerous to wander around in. One could hike in the Drakensberg or some of the Cape mountains, but they're not exactly anywhere nearby.

I can highly recommend this movie; see it if you can.

Comments

[ihlanya.livejournal.com]

There's the ongoing debate between ramblers and stately homes .. the public has the 'right of way' to use their grounds for walking in. Personally I think it's a complete breach of privacy and if I spent a couple of million quid on a home I wouldn't want the peasantry tramping through it.

[claidheamhmor]

I probably wouldn't either - but the homes are sold with those conditions.

Did you read the thing in the Daily Mail a few days ago about the poor couple who have to fork out nearly 500000 quid in repair costs to the local church and legal fees because they live on a piece of ground that way back when was used by the rector, and it was a condition that the rector be responsible for church repairs. That responsibility went with the land, which was later subdivided and sold, and the couple has now been hit by bills from the church council. Apparently that clause was almost never enforced in Britain, but was never removed, so it's still there.

[ihlanya.livejournal.com]

I know, it's just so shit that people have to get nailed for this kind of stuff!

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention the most awesome thing about it: the lead actor's total fapworthy hotness. I have to change my underwear just thinking about his swoonworthiness.

... actually, I'll be in my bunk, getting some repetitive strain injury. ;)

[claidheamhmor]

Oh, was he hot? I must have been too distracted looking at the Danish woman's assets.

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

'Sokay, I did enough, um, appreciating of Hotty McHotness and his chest hair to make up for your laxness.

FAP FAP FAP.

[surelle.livejournal.com]

I've only read the book, which is a good read. The actual story is a bit more depressing and makes you want to yell at this kid, repeatedly.

[claidheamhmor]

Given the end result, definitely. Rather sad..

[openmindedmale.livejournal.com]

A wierd thing is, I came across a reference to this on some other webpage yesterday (completely unrelated to movies).. huh!

I have a vague impression that in scandinavian countries, one has the right to transit across private property, or even camp there... a throwback to the Viking days. Can't generally do that in the US..

[claidheamhmor]

That's pretty interesting... (About the Scandinavian countries).

[openmindedmale.livejournal.com]

I thought so, yeah..

[salambander.livejournal.com]

Love love love love love that movie. Top 5.

And the soundtrack rocked.

<3

[claidheamhmor]

Yeah, I rather liked the music - very appropriate.

[linda-does-nz.livejournal.com]

I've picked up this DVD in the supermarket a few times and thought it looks interesting. Definitely fancy watching it. And yes, the lead actor is hot! I thought it was Adrien Grenier before, they look quite similar.