Into the Wild is a disturbing film based on Jon Krakauer’s biography of Christopher McCandless’ unremittingly tragic existence. It’s the story of a recklessly squandered life.

The moment Christopher (Emile Hirsch) appears on screen it’s obvious he hates his parents, Walt (William Hurt) and Billie (Marcia Gay Harden). He seems intent on punishing them. The only person Christopher identifies with is younger sister Carine (Jena Malone)  

Christopher never owned a telephone while he was attending college in Georgia. His family was forced to communicate by mail or spend money and time driving from their native Virginia just to visit him. After receiving no response to their numerous letters since attending his graduation, Walt and Billie become concerned for Christopher and take a long trip to Atlanta.

Their son’s landlord tells them Christopher terminated his lease months ago. Furthermore, $24,000 had been drained from his trust fund. Christopher left the money to a non-profit organization bent on ending poverty and discrimination. He also cut-up his photo ID and set his money ablaze before vanishing without a trace. Christopher planned to drive across the US until he eventually reached Alaska -- where despite a lack of knowledge, provisions, and rations he planned to survive in the wild. To ensure he had a head start, Christopher arranged for the post office not to send mail back to its sender for a three-month period. This allowed him to easily vanish and hopefully keep his parents from ever finding him.

The McCandless family comes no closer to learning what happened to Christopher, even though his car was recovered after being swept up in a sudden flood. Knowing his family would be on his trail once they found his vehicle, Chrisopher takes on the alias of Alexander Supertramp. He’s forced to jump aboard freight trains and relies heavily on the kindness of strangers to provide lifts that get him closer and closer to Alaska.

Hirsch delivers an intelligent and compelling performance in the lead role by completely dissolving into his character here. Although Jena Malone receives very little screen time, she makes quite an impact as Carine, the only person who ever really understood her brother. Malone makes audiences feel the raw emotions, suffering, pain and utter anguish her family feels over his disappearance and lack of answers.

Writer/director Sean Penn struggled for 10 years to convince the McCandless family to support him in making the film. As a result his screenplay and direction are too cautious and paint a rosy picture of Christopher, never hypothesizing about his motives or questioning his selfishness or the possibility of a hidden psychiatric problem. Penn further relinquishes control of the picture by allowing the real Carine to assist him in writing the bulk of the film’s narration.

Despite its flaws, Into the Wild is worth seeing because of Hal Holbrook’s Oscar-nominated performance. Holbrook plays a broken old man whose wife and son were killed by a drunk driver several decades ago. This character reaches out to Christopher after offering him a lift.

I came away from Into the Wild feeling like I had just witnessed a painful, long, drawn-out suicide. I searched every scene for some small bit of inspiration but found none.

(Released by Paramount Vantage and rated "R" for some language and nudity.)