WILD ***
Everyone needs to escape from reality, or from the inevitable problems of life, every now and then; some just take a flight somewhere, some search for wisdom in mystic places, and some radically choose to isolate completely form everything. The young Cheryl Strayed sticks with the latest in order to become what she believes her mother expected from her. As the film opens, Cheryl is lost in the desert as she’s struggling with her own challenge of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, enduring pain, bruises, hunger, thirsty and loneliness. During a phone call her ex-husband asks her the reason for the risky adventure, and leaving the question opened for answers, the narrative will explain it through her memories, shown in flashbacks as she’s experiencing a deliriously self-redeem. Following up to his awarded drama “Dallas Buyers Club”, French director Jean-Marc Vallée gives another shot on human resistance set to proof through a battle of one’s own, brilliantly able to put actors on the edge and extract their limits out. After a few bad choices, Reese Witherspoon finally gets back on track as this vulnerable, strong and determined young woman, who first was raised to be a promising and successful person, but then went ‘experimentalist’ (as she puts herself) and with the childhood traumas, her failed marriage and the absence of her mother overwhelming her, just gets herself on a path of destruction and abandonment. That’s when she decides to hike, which will leave her more than 3 months away from human contact, looking for a way out of the mess she turned her life into. Based on the best-selling book written by the real Cheryl, who became a writer for some important vehicles in America, the film follows her suffering and attempts to get rid of the haunting past, as she looks to recuperate the identity she had lost. The rapid and aggressive editing and the amazing sound techniques create a mysteriously suffocating atmosphere as the audience witnesses quick glimpses of her thoughts, involving her contacts with family, men, friends, drugs and books. Although she’s set to isolate herself, she crosses paths with a few passers-by whom will help develop and recharge her hope to conclude the hard task and remind her of all things that lead her to that situation. Laura Dern also delivers a respectable performance as Cheryl’s high-spirited mother and many believe she’s a sure bet for the Oscar’s Supporting Actress spot. Loaded with feminine emotions and a contemplative look on the human need for rescue and self analyses, the film is an incredible and touching journey of a woman determined to fight for herself.
MODERN POLITICS
Jean-Luc Godard gives his shot on 3D with the visually astonishing “Goodbye to Language”, where he discusses social issues through philosophies based on the meetings of a man and a woman. As he meditates on his own insecurities of aging, Godard points to modern behaviors in various fields, exposing his suggestions of maintaining the harmony among humans, while he observes nature, creation and the incapability of communication. Tremendously inspiring and reflexive, it is an exercise of love for film, for the right of being and for life itself.
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