Wild (2014), R, ★★★

Reese Witherspoon hiking on a trail. 

Any person would consider any type of hobby a source of therapy, treatment or aid to guide you from the difficult obstacles of uncertainty. As an aid, I listen to music that I dislike to focus on any activity that I have to face to move on to a certain level. It is a weird source of therapy but it works. However, any type of noise or just silence would be another two options, but, I would stick with the easiest option in my opinion. But, in this movie, a woman uses hiking as therapy to get away from all the reckless behavior and unfortunate events that was in her life. And, solely, a performance carries the film with finesse and silent resonance.

Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) checks into a motel room on the first day of her journey when she is told constantly by a hotel clerk that there will be an extra charge if she has a man with her. She clearly states that she is by herself and does not have an address and wants to just hike the Pacific Crest Trail, but Cheryl just gives him an address. She has a bitter conversation with a man named Paul (Thomas Sadoski) regarding whether or not her brother will be of interest of her and the confirmation that Cheryl did put his address.

Cheryl has flashes of memories of herself doing heroin and having sex with different men, her mother, Bobbi (Laura Dern) dancing, and her fighting with a man in the car. She is picked up by a couple in a minivan to take her to the beginning of the trail. She arrives and dropped off and is hesitant at first but is on her way. At the beginning, Cheryl is a novice camper and hiker as she purchased the wrong kind of gas for her campfire. As she encounters many people, mostly men, along the way, Cheryl encounters numerous flashbacks that really hurt her personally or changed her life in a nice transitional twist.

Witherspoon with Laura Dern on a horse.

The movie goes onto one trail but veers into different directions in a metaphorical and physical way as we see from different flashbacks, there are small episodes of her life that we witness that got her into turmoil and states of unhappiness. Specifically, the small episode of Cheryl and her mother living in a bitter state of angst and vulnerability as Bobbi wanted to go back to school and Cheryl avoided her and becomes a rude person to her. That little episode symbolizes the disscontempt between mother and daughter at a young age that had a great relationship but simmered down to a very uncomfortable relationship. It is haunting and sad simultaneously.

It is not as good as the earlier Sean Penn-directed film Into the Wild as it was also resonant and beautifully directed in terms of photographing nature but also depicting the dark aspects of nature that it'll bite you until you die if you do not learn about the aspects of nature. This movie does not really have that aspect of nature because this movie really is a character-driven drama, but, there are obstacles and animals that Cheryl had to see and go through, however, it is really about why she is doing her hiking.

But, this is Reese Witherspoon's movie and it is definitely Oscar-bait. We do not see her act as much as in a dialogue-level, but we witness her behavior, her feelings with her eyes and her mannerisms as we see some details of pain as toenails are black and dark as the film is going near the end of her journey. And, she gets hungry and desperate as she encounters the first man on her journey as she suspects if she is a bad man, but he is a loving person. And, that is refreshing as it does not go into a clichéd sex scene or unnecessary rape scene. Laura Dern, I think, is excellent as the mother who tries to get along with her daughter. She has a subtle and motherly personality that is ordinary and common that escalates into a loving character.

Director Jean-Marc Vallee who previously made Dallas Buyers Club with now-Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey as he now sculpts the movie like Mud with the same actor and has the same distinctive feel. I liked the movie as a spiritual, disciplined and natural character study of a woman trying to get away from her sins and become more virtuous with less dialogue and more background shots of nature. And, towards the end, it becomes incredibly moving. The one aspect that bothered me was that the narrative becomes more conventional regarding a change and the reason why she did heroine and the final scene, but this movie had complete faith in itself to trust the audience to go for the journey with Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon will get a nomination and Dern, I hope, will get an Oscar nomination. It is a good movie.

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