McCandless journey took him to Arizona, California, South Dakota, Mexico and Alaska, on a self discovering experience where he rejected the conventional life as a university graduate to pursue something more meaningful in life. At the end, all paths lead him to an isolated life in the Alaskan wilderness, where he faced the ultimate challenge in his life.
The interesting point about McCandless journey and what transformed him into an icon of non-conformity is the fact that he didn't need to spend a lot of money travel the world to pursue his goals, but the fact that he achieved his goal doing in a simpler manner in "his own backyard". Traveling by car at first, jumping into moving trains, kayaking or simply walking, the North American backcountry was big and wild enough to be a serious challenge for someone to survive alone.
The site where McCandless spent his last 100 days became a beacon for travelers that go deep into Alaska to retrace his steps into a 40 mile trail known as the Stampede Trail, a former mining trail explored in the 1930's and now best known as McCandless last camp. A particular thing in this site is the Magic Bus, an abandoned bus, that miners used to travel in and has been the refuge of many hikers and adventurers since. If you click on the link of its coordinates, you can see the bus today, on GoogleMaps: Magic Bus on Google Maps
 | |
| Sean Penn and Jon Krakauer |
Following the book release in 1996 and best-seller status soon after, American Oscar-winner-actor-director-producer Sean Penn announced its adaptation to the big screen in 2007, with Emile Hirsch as McCandless and others renowned actors in the cast like John Hurt, Marcia Gay Hayden, Kirsten Stewart and Hal Holbrook.
The movie was acclaimed by the critics and instantly turned into an "Adventure-cult" status, grossing nearly 52 million dollars worldwide and receiving numerous award nominations, including 2 Golden Globes and 2 Oscars nominations.
No comments:
Post a Comment