WILD  3.0***

   In “Wild”, Reese Witherspoon  stars as Cheryl Strayed, an aspiring Minnesota writer who tailspins into drug abuse and empty sex after her 45-year-old mother, Bobbi (Laura Dern), dies of cancer. To rediscover herself, she decides to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail, a  1,100-mile route from the Mojave Desert through California, Oregon and Washington to the Canadian border. An inexperienced hiker, she sets off with a ridiculously overstuffed backpack (a running joke) and undersized boots, but with a gritty determination.The film chronicles Strayed’s 94-day hike, beginning in the middle when she loses a boot and a toenail.  She encounters numerous people along the way, mostly men, and – with one or two scary exceptions – all are decent.

Flashbacks unfolding in Cheryl’s mind, meanwhile, transport viewers into her troubled past. The way the flashbacks are handled  is well done. They come up in much same  way memories would on such an expedition and Cheryl's past is painted in quick brushstrokes that ultimately give you a sense of who she is.  However the flashbacks  consume about one-third of the movie and break up the  narrative and detract from the main story, the hike itself.

Yet the film is still smart, scenic, well-acted and emotionally real enough to satisfy as a female into-the-woods adventure and  memoir.  It shows an intelligent, embracingly imperfect heroine.

Witherspoon is charismatic and believable, although she never quite sheds her movie-star quality ( she just doesn’t quite look as worn and grimy as you would expect for such a grueling undertaking ). However she does give a strong performance which IS good enough to get an Oscar nomination.   Whether quoting poetry, climbing breathtaking cliffs, swearing at a rock, or craving potato chips, she inspires you to go the distance with her.

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, drug use, and language

Clark

PS: The filming was done using only natural light (no artificial lighting at all); the no mirrors were covered on the set to avoid any primping; the young girl playing Cheryl in the flashbacks is in fact Cheryl’s daughte;r and it was filmed in Oregon and Washington both on and off the PCT trail.