Like the enormous gear carried on her tiny back, Cheryl Strayed’s internal baggage is a heavy burden as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail alone in Wild, an intense movie about survival. Wracked with grief and guilt, Cheryl has suffered a heartbreaking tragedy, which sent her into a downward spiral of drugs and sex. Will this 1100-mile hike help her recover and find her true self? Or will she quit before reaching her goal?

Playing Cheryl, Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) delivers another powerful performance. Projecting both vulnerability and determination, Witherspoon could earn additional Academy Award consideration with her outstanding work in this wilderness drama.          

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (The Young Victoria) and based on the real Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir, Wild may not be the easiest film to watch, but once Cheryl’s adventure begins, don’t even try to look away. We desperately want this complicated woman to succeed. Of course, she’s not an appealing sight in her pre-hike debauchery scenes. But it’s Reese Witherspoon, for gosh sakes! We know she can be brave as well as funny. And we yearn to see her overcome any obstacles in her way to redemption -- no matter how fanciful the task at hand might seem.

Fortunately, the movie gives viewers fascinating little details to draw us in along the way. Take Cheryl’s footwear for instance. The opening scene shows her losing one shoe after climbing a steep hill. What she does with the other one can only be described as “unexpected,” which is an appropriate way to describe many other incidents during Cheryl’s long hike. How she handles losing shoes and her delighted reaction when new boots arrive are two of the tiny details that delight us. However, Cheryl faces more perilous situations than delightful ones. Her experiences regarding food, weather, shelter and safety emerge as the most frightening. Kudos to Witherspoon for her willingness to display physical as well as emotional bruises and scars throughout this gruelling film. No doubt about it, she’s grown considerably as a dramatic actress since Legally Blonde (one of my favorite comic performances).     

Still, I think the best thing about Wild involves the way it presents such a wonderfully touching mother/daughter relationship. Laura Dern (The Fault in Our Stars) portrays Bobbi, Cheryl’s happy, caring mom. Dern endows this character with a depth of feeling that makes us want to hug her every time she comes on screen. More Oscar fodder!

Inspirational and thought-provoking, Wild should do well during the 2014 awards season. 

(Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures and rated “R” for sexual content, nudity, drug use, and language.)

For more information about Wild, go to the IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes web site.