From NetFlix:

Sean Penn directs this feature based on best-selling author Jon Krakauer’s true story of a young man who gives up everything to lead a solitary life in the wild. Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a trust-fund college graduate, abandons his safe existence to trek across the harsh yet beautiful terrain of Alaska. William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden co-star, along with Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn and Hal Holbrook (in an Oscar-nominated role).

Because I had first read the book “Into The Wild”, I found the film a bit slow. In fact, I wish you would read the book first. There is a sort of mystery: was there some fatal mistake that McCandless made ? The book gives a very definite answer: YES, and explains just how close McCandless came to not dying. Ask yourself if the film offers the same information. Of course, this film can never have a happy ending. At least it supplies scenes that you might not have imagined while reading the book.

Among other categories, I added “documentary” because the film is historical in nature.