Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon), a woman who calls herself “the girl who says yes,” has developed a drug and sex problem that is ruining her life.
When events unfold that force her to reconsider her philosophies, Strayed hikes over 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, searching for herself and meaning in her life.
We say, “Wild is a film about self-discovery.”
TAYLOR: Not nature, not camping, not the trail itself, this is the true story of Strayed. Although scoring very high among viewers and critics, I managed to find quite a few disappointed commentaries about the lack of wild places and things in this film. Such concerns are borne of idiocy as Wild is a film about a screwed-up woman trying to put herself right. Some men, it’s always men bashing this film, even go so far as to say the film is full of misandry, in that it seems every man Strayed runs into on the trail wants to sleep with her. I’ll admit that this does seem to be true in the tale, but it’s a question of being disappointed in these men, not a question of believing things actually happened this way. Strayed is, after all, “the girl who says yes.” This attitude and the fact that she is young and attractive does not help assuage the long list of conservative good ol’ boys she meets along the way. Thankfully, this important plot point takes up little time.
HOWE: It seems that there were not many good movies for a while, then up pops about five or six of them within a month or two (call it Oscar time). I have always found Witherspoon a good actress who has played it safe in the roles that she has chosen. Even when the scripts haven’t been that strong, she has been able to pass off a so-so performance. But every once in a while a script comes along that defines an actor’s career and in Wild I think she has found her’s.
She was able to get under my skin and I felt her pain, not from just the beating of the hike but also her mental state of mind. Witherspoon thoroughly deserves her Oscar nod.
TAYLOR: The delivery of the film is also interesting. We are introduced to Strayed on the trail and know nothing about her. Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée doles out the story of Strayed’s past in what starts out to be near subliminal flashes. As the film goes on, we slowly begin to solve Strayed’s mystery, which includes a great performance from Laura Dern as her mother. By caring about Strayed it’s easier to share in her revelations, which are moving.
HOWE: I loved the cinematography, the colours of the landscape captured so well and the little flashbacks that are littered throughout the movie. Rather than giving us a flashback lasting five minutes, we get a two-or-three second flash revealing the sort of person Strayed is or was and it works well. I thought it was a very well acted, filmed and put together film.
– Taylor gives Wild 5 opportunities to look up the word “misandry” out of 5.
– Howe gives it 4.5 toenails out of 5.
– Reel Reviews with Brian Taylor and Peter Howe appears every Friday and Sunday in The Morning Star.
