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MOVIE REVIEW Walk this 'Wild' way, and observe Comment By Chris Honore’ for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honore’ for Revels Posted Dec. 26, 2014 @ 12:01 am By Chris Honore’ for Revels Posted Dec. 26, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News Wild; 115 min; Rated R The just-released film “Wild,” starring Reese Witherspoon and adapted from the New York Times bestseller by Cheryl Strayed, has an interesting title. While not exactly capturing the essence of the film, it does act as a kind of Rorschach, asking the audience to give it its own translation and meaning. The narrative begins in earnest with Cheryl in a Mojave Desert motel on the California-Mexico border, packing up her gear and preparing to embark on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a walk that will stretch some 1,100 miles north to the Oregon-Washington border (the actual PCT is 2,663 miles and ends at the Washington-Canada border). If she had been asked at that moment why she was taking this long, grueling journey, her answer would have been vague at best for she believed only that she might find something on this months-long odyssey to fill what had become a haunting emptiness in her life. And thus she begins, barely able to shoulder what is a “monster” pack, laden with much that is nonessential for the miles that lie ahead, so heavy she can barely stand. Of course, the backpack is the quintessential metaphor, obvious to be sure but irresistible. As she walks across vast stretches of desert and then snow-covered mountains, making her way into the spectacular Pacific Northwest, she unpacks both the physical and emotional baggage that she is carrying and gradually, painfully begins to lighten her load. Through nicely constructed flashbacks, some just quick glimpses, others jagged in their emotional charge, Cheryl reflects on her life and most especially on the relationship with her mother, Bobbi (a luminescent Laura Dern), whom she adored and whom she loses to cancer, a loss that shatters her to the core, one that levels her with grief. Though married to Paul (Thomas Sadoski), she drops off an emotional precipice, acts out, desperate and self-destructive. Her hike is layered with joy and sadness and an abiding regret. It is not only a quest for a kind of exorcism, but a search for an opportunity to shake the kaleidoscope that has been her life and view her choices from different perspectives. It is through such moments that Cheryl begins to find understanding and eventually redemption. All of this begs the question: Is this as good a film as it seems, at least at first blush? The answer is yes, leavened with a qualified no. A thought that comes to mind is can a film be made that is emotive and impactful while being, essentially, an internal monologue? Or is there some truth in the aphorism that character (our own and that of others) is fully revealed through interactions with and connections to others. “Wild” is a solitary quest that while courageous is also meditative and in its own way silent. While it is a test of character, of commitment, these qualities are only revealed through those personal exigencies confronted on the trail, not through revelatory dialogue — though Cheryl does encounter the kindness of strangers, as well as two who skirt the definition of predator. Having said that, I would encourage the reader to walk with Cheryl and observe Witherspoon striving to leave behind her Hollywood persona and lose herself in a character that is complex, distant, in many ways unknowable, yet deeply human.       By Chris Honore’ for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honore’ for Revels Posted Dec. 26, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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