Somewhere
early on, then midway, and later in the viewing of Wild did I want to run out
of the theater. But I stuck it out and am glad I did. It’s a movie that you should
see but it isn’t really enjoyable. You need
to be in the mood for it, though I’m not sure what mood is appropriate.
The
movie stars the pretty and talented Reese Witherspoon, based on the book Wild,
by Cheryl Strayed. It’s the story of how
one woman finds a way to get her out-of-control life together, needing to
overcome both a self-made prison and a life she was dealt. No one asked to be raised by a single mom who
runs from an abusive, alcoholic husband.
No one asked to lose their mother at a young age. But she chose to violate her marriage and
shoot drugs. Wild is about the choices
we make, the ones made for us, how we deal with them, and how we find a path
back to whom we believe we were or are capable of being.
It’s a
movie about a journey, a thousand-plus-mile, 100-day hike into the unknown, of a
woman who travels solo but manages to live within the limits and boundaries of
an unforgiving nature.
The
story of loss, adventure, and personal growth is hard to watch at times. You feel the burdensome weight of her
oversized backpack. You feel her pain as
her life is told in a series of unpleasant flashbacks. You feel for her always.
Seeing
her on this self-imposed journey does not romanticize hiking but I did feel a
bit stronger and determined as a result of seeing her overcome her
struggles. If she can trudge on, despite
the anguish and exhaustion then I could meet the challenges of whatever weighs
me down.
Books
and movies can do that to you. They lift
us up, even if they first need to bring us down below the surface. Sometimes I want to be entertained and most
often I want a movie that gives me inspiration, motivation, and a hunger for
life. Above all, I look to escape to
lives I never will live, to worlds I will never visit, to experiences I couldn’t
fathom.
Wild
takes us through the deconstruction of a young woman who searches for a
foundation, who needs something to focus her on a new lifestyle. Thrusting yourself into the desert is one
way, though not a common one. She wanted
to find herself, to rediscover who she really is. When faced with fear and loneliness, you
learn to survive. She quiets her world
so she can hear just herself but doesn’t allow anything to distract her. She won’t just drink, eat, gamble, TV, sports,
videogame or shop her way to her truth or destiny. She walked through her problems and hiked to
not just a new destination but a state of mind.
It’s not
Rocky, but it hits hard and leaves our heroine standing.
DON’T MISS: ALL NEW RESOURCE OF THE YEAR
2015 Book PR &
Marketing Toolkit: All New
Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him
on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This
is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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