In 2013 I wrote a review for Strider (no. 127, Dec.) of Cheryl Strayed's beautifully written book 'Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found'. The book recounts her 1995 solo walk along 1100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Now here's the film, produced by and starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl, which will soon disappear from cinema screens (unless it garners Oscars or Baftas) and which I recommend you see before it goes to DVD.
Unlike many adapted books, Nick Hornby's screenplay stays remarkably faithful to the both the spirit and the chronology of the original. It begins with the lost boot (her Monster pack knocked it over a ravine; she threw its companion after it and continued on duct-taped sandals). It uses scenes from the backpacking journey to engender memories and incidents from Cheryl's troubled life - heroin use, extra-marital sex, the death of her mother from cancer (she'd missed it, that night), absent but abusing father, the family horse. In my view these are more skilfully weaved into the narrative than in the book, but they're only slightly less graphic. And then there's the lost toenail (more in the book), not to mention the pack-welts and snakes, some of them male.
Reese Witherspoon is very good indeed in this central role, for which she has been nominated for both Oscar (as has Laura Dern as her mother) and Bafta. She holds the film together extremely well, and her journey from 26-year old backpacking newbie (she did no preparation, her boots were too small, she started with far too much gear, all of it untried) to seasoned backpacker. When she finally breaks down with grief (after a child's song), then makes it to journey's end (the Bridge of the Gods on the Washington State border) we share in her fulfilment of a goal achieved only by herself, for herself. What happens later is not related - a family, a novel and an online advice column - but the film has done its unflinching and almost entirely accurate (to a long-distance walker) job.
And a visually sumptuous job it is. The PCT scenery is displayed in all its harshness and beauty, from the Mojave desert in California to the wet lushness of the Oregon forests. You'll want to go and do some (I haven't), though it's rather longer - 2663 miles in total. Like Cheryl, you will meet and share with other trail hikers, can send on parcels of food and replacement boots. And like the bear which she encounters in the book (if not the film), you'll have to shit in the woods. So far as I am aware, it's the only mainstream film whose co-star is a national trail, but it shares with 2013's 'Tracks' (the story of Robyn Davidson's 1700-mile camel trek across the Australian desert) its two central characters - a solo walker (young, female) and the landscape (geographic and personal) through which she journeys.
If your spouse or partner has difficulty in understanding why you do continuous long-distance walks on your own (if you do), these two films might help them towards some clues. You don't have to have suffered early death of a much-loved parent, not to mention indulged in drug and sexual abuse, but you may share with Cheryl and Robyn the quiet and very personal stillness which comes only at the end of a long day with a heavy backpack. Or maybe that's just me.
Iain.
