#LifeIsWild

“I'd finally come to understand what it had been: a yearning for a way out, when actually what I had wanted to find was a way in.”

Let me mark a disclaimer of Spoiler because one, it is a reviewer's best practice and two, it makes me feel like a God. While I put the spoiler alert, I'd add that there is nothing anyone can write to spoil the experience of watching this movie. Wild is not really about a story. Wild is an experience, aptly taken from a real life memoir by Cheryl Strayed called Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

The journey depicted in the movie is that of Cheryl which she undertook in 1995 by hiking over 1000 miles of Pacific Crest Trail. The trail's one end is US-Mexico border and other is on US-Canada. Cheryl took this journey following personal mishaps due to which she spent years of reckless life. It was a kind of redemption...Just the way it usually is.

I'll start with what she says in the movie. It sums up how one would really start such a journey.

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.”

This is so crazy and yet makes so much sense at the same time. There is plenty and increasing number of people going on such journeys and the reason or triggers are usually a handful. Redemption, unattainable apologies, fucked up past or sudden turn of events in life that leave you clueless- these are the usual reasons more often than not. I am not sure if there is an easier and shorter way to do this but only such a journey can make you as strong as it could. It's beyond imagination how strong one can feel when left alone with nothing and the feeling of surviving it all despite that. It makes one feel invincible. Like someone said "You never know how strong you can be until being strong is the only choice you've got."

I found myself smiling at few scenes. Movie starts with Witherspoon carrying her huge rucksack 'Monster.' She admits this was the first time she was embarking on such a journey. I was waiting for the scene when she will come in terms with leaving that baggage. That's like what they show George Clooney saying in 'Up in the Air' If you have one suitcase to pack all that you want, what all would you pack?

A journey like this only can teach one to get rid of unwanted baggage, actual and emotional.

I almost fell off my seat laughing when she tells a guy she hitches a ride from that her husband is somewhere leading her on the trail. I admit using imaginary fiancée recently on my trip to Uganda. Trust me, It's not a great feeling. On one hand you are trying to be as brave as possible and on the other you are admitting defeat by accepting and playing to social norms of male belonging. I assume one does weigh the options. I did. Then you use it anyway because you neither give any shit not want more drama.

Best stark deja-vu was when she meets a bunch of guys on same trail and another man gets her coffee and they comment that she gets special privilege for being a woman. The best is when one says kidding." Go your majesty you can get a refill" She says "Her majesty doesn't go for refills, the refills come to her." I precisely know what she must have felt when she joked and ignored to defend or explain. It is no point to even try to explain the thousand threats and vulnerabilities a woman traveler goes through compared to men. If that can be done away with, woman will easily give away privilege of free coffee any day.

Another typical instance is when she meets a man who presumes her to be a hobo: or a penniless vagabond. She tries to explain she is not vagabond, just doing a trail but he is not even in a frame of mind to imagine otherwise.

I can't point to what I liked in this movie in particular but it is an honest and vivid adaptation of a true journey. Reese Witherspoon has done a marvellous job of looking like a petite erstwhile fucked up girl who is showing true courage by fighting mental battles of unknown that lies ahead.

If I still were to pick what's best, it's the ending. It's as true as are the feelings at end of such a journey. No jubilation of any sort. Just a revelation which keep hammering itself in throughout and now surfaces as known accepted fact. It ends with these beautiful lines which are by far best I have heard that can depict such a quest. Full of profound wisdom that can be matched by vast confusion and uncertainty only.

“What if I forgave myself? I thought. What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have? What if I was a liar and a cheat and there was no excuse for what I'd done other than because it was what I wanted and needed to do? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?”

Watch it for the sake of watching a woman's true account of solo journey, without any intention to be a feminist if that can deter you. Or watch it to analyse things. If nothing, go watch for Reese Witherspoon. Whichever reason you pick, it wouldn't let you down.