What would you do if you were trapped, out in nature, all alone? Why would you be out there by yourself anyway? In two films, "Into the Wild" and "127 Hours," two men explore the wilderness with reckless abandon, and only one makes it out alive.
In the two films, the main characters retreat into nature because they feel most alive there. In "Into the Wild," Christopher McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch) talks about how he can no longer take living in society and can only feel alive in the wild. In "127 Hours," Aron Rolston (played by James Franco) thrives on being in nature, and it is apparent that he is a tad loco and doesn't fit well in civilization. These movies (whose stories are true) show men who find solace and pure existence in the dangerous and isolated wild, away from people and technology and city blocks.
However, both men get into trouble. McCandless (who later changes his name to Alexander Supertramp) travels deep into the Alaskan bush alone and eats a poisonous plant by mistake, and Rolston pulls a large boulder onto his hand, trapping him in a deep crevasse. The two are faced with impossible situations--if you want to live, you have to be willing to die. McCandless couldn't make it across the raging river to get help, and Rolston has to decide if he can endure the pain of cutting his own arm off. Both films make me wonder what I would do if I were in those situations. Would I have enough will power to do what is necessary to live? Would I value life enough to cut my arm off?
In the end, McCandless dies from starvation in the bus that he inhabited for four months. However, Rolston succeeds in cutting his arm off and staggering to freedom. Two men, both encountering nature in order to find vibrant existence, meet opposite fates, and share lessons to us that should always be considered when going into the wild.
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