Wild tells the true-ish story of Cheryl Strayed, a troubled woman
who sets out to through-hike the Pacific Crest Trail and, in a sense, wipe her
personal slate clean. It’s
wonderful, not just for the effective and deft way it tells Strayed’s internal
story, but for its depiction of the experience of backpacking the PCT.
As it happens, I grew up in town just off
the PCT, a trail that runs all the way from California’s Mexican border to
Washington’s Canada border. Every
spring, through-hikers would descend on my town, standing in line to pick up
packages at the post office, hitching rides to the store, and generally catching
their breath before heading on up the trail. I, personally, have logged more miles than I can remember on
the trail, both backpacking and working on maintenance projects as part of
various Eagle Scout projects. In
other words, like Wings of the Navy, Wild tells a story about my personal
world.
And it nails it. When she begins her journey, Strayed
has no idea what she’s doing. She
makes all the rookie mistakes: she overpacks, she fails to field-test her gear
before starting out, she buys the wrong boots, and so on. As a guy who has also made all of those
rookie mistakes, the first act played (for me) like a horror movie: what
disaster would this character bring upon herself next? But slowly, across the miles and with a
little help along the way, Strayed figures it out. She sheds all the crap that isn’t doing her any good. She learns how to take care of
herself. She finds her
strength. The film goes from
horror-show to powerful character study, and before we know it we aren’t
watching a movie about a woman walking in the woods, but about a woman walking
out of her past.
This is powerful stuff, aided by a keen
eye for technical detail, a genuine affection for the PCT and its
through-hikers, and sure knowledge of what it’s about. Wild
is worth the trip.
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