Being alive, eating so as not to die, feeling in nature, forgetting the norms established by society, being free, is what the film Na Natureza Selvagem proposes, proposed by actor Sean Penn and released in 2007.
The film is based on the play of the same name by Jon Krakeauer, who in turn hides a true story: that of Christopher McCandless, a young man from Virginia, USA. U. S. , that belonged to an upper middle-class family. She had a sedentary childhood living with her parents, but behind the emergence of a model family, discussions were frequent.
- McCandless was a young man who excelled in his studies from an early age.
- Graduated in anthropology and history and always showed great attraction for reading.
Some of his favorite authors were Tolstoy and Thureau, authors who inspired him and led him to make the most radical decision of his life. Tired of living in a world of appearances, always doing this “should do”, living in an absolutely materialistic world and having to follow the rules, he decided to leave everything behind, give all his money to charity and make a trip. alone, with nothing but a backpack and a few things.
McCandless wanted to experience the state of absolute freedom, return to the animal state that we no longer see in men, live in nature. The route wasn’t easy, but he’s the one who made his own way.
This romantic vision of life, nature and our wilder side has made McCandless a kind of legendary hero, a figure who fueled 20th-century American folklore. However, after the legend, there is always a probable truth, a little darker. admirers, a harmful aspect has emerged that demystifies this modern hero and his exploits.
Na Natureza Selvagem presents the sweetest vision of this character, as a collection of legends narrated by his sister and By McCandless himself, we witness a journey through inhospit places, on fascinating paths, but we also fall on the darker side of the big cities.
“I went into the woods because I wanted to live freely; face the facts of life alone and see if she could learn what she had to teach. Did you want to live deeply and dispense with everything that wasn’t life?Don’t realize, at the time of his death, that he hadn’t lived?. ?Henry David Thoureau?
Can we be free in a world full of obligations?Can we talk about freedom if there are limits?
Freedom, in its strictest sense, should not be subject to any limitation; therefore, the concept of freedom that we currently have is being forged, adapting. When we think of freedom, we think of freedom subject to something, such as social freedom, whose limits are given by laws and morals.
McCandless felt that he had never been free, that all he had done in his life was what was expected of him. Society stops us, forces us to follow rules: study, work, buy a house with the money earned working, etc. It’s about the material.
The university degree, without a learning adventure, is, in some cases, considered a symbol of status, of power, of “Being someone”. In turn, this title allows us to get a job, whose goal is to get money to buy the material things that will “make us happy”.
McCandless loved to learn, he loved to study, but he didn’t see it as a goal; The diploma did not matter to him, yet his family celebrated all this as a great success, as something that each?Good son? You have to wish. For McCandless, however, it was nothing more than a bond, an obstacle to his quest for freedom.
This boy decided to put into practice his own utopia, give up everything to be free, he didn’t mind facing extreme conditions, sleeping on the street or hunting food, he wanted to be like wild animals living by nature (and his own rules). I was looking forward to experiencing maximum freedom.
As if it were the hero’s journey, Na Natureza Selvagem shows us the way, the evolution of the character and the pursuit of freedom. People who knew McCandless’s journey fed the legend and gradually became a myth; Something that, in our time, seems very complicated, because new technologies have invaded our lives, making orality and legends a thing of the past.
Heroes generally feel an initial call to take the journey, achieve feats, and at some point adversity will be so severe that they will lead the hero to consider abandoning everything, so something (supernatural or not) will happen that will lead them to regain faith and continue the path.
McCandless became with his journey a kind of modern hero, a myth-worthy figure. Certainly, many of his exploits have been exaggerated, distorted, and even demoralized.
All of this has made McCandless a myth; everyone heard of him, and when they found him dead, his story grew louder. His death contributed greatly to the creation of the myth.
McCandless has become a utopia, an embodiment of the struggle for ideals. In the desert brings us hope, nature in its purest form, overcoming adversity and, above all, a rupture. A break with our routine, our monotonous life you’re in. what you have, in which materialism prevails and we forget that we are all mortals.
McCandless was able to capture this essence, live to live, nothing more; enjoy what nature gives away, even if it darkens and hardens. In the film, the city presents itself as the locus terribilis, the place to which it does not belong, the place where those who do not want to follow the rules are expelled and condemned to live in absolute misery.
On the contrary, nature is the locus amoenus, the idyllic place where man has renounced materialism and needs nothing else.
In the city, McCandless comes to a hostel in search of the comfort of a bed he ends up rejecting, and despite the harsh weather conditions of the wildest nature, everything is better than living on the darker side of the city. there’s no place for people like him, there’s no room for his utopia, and everything is bought with money.
It is true that the version proposed by the film Na Natureza Selvagem is sweet and designed to continue feeding the figure of the hero, but achieves his goal, manages to make us awaken a little from this unreal world of which we are slaves. it makes us want to get out of the routine, the comfort zone and, as far as possible, seek freedom.
“Freedom and simple beauty are too good to pass. “In nature?