The Great Controversy - Two or three months ago a friend of mine was taking his wife out on a "date night" by planning the typical dinner and the movies. A chance to be adults without the kids for a few hours. As he looked through the offerings at the local Big Cinemas, he was coming up empty handed. He settled on a small art theatre and a movie called "Into the Wild".
The following day my friend called me and wanted me to go to the movies with him and another buddy of ours. He gave both of us the same story before getting an answer out of either of us. Being that "John Rambo" was at the Big Cinema, I immediately concluded that was what we'd be going to see. I mean, The Guy's going to the movies and everything ... any who, we went, and my interest in the rock band Pearl Jam by way of front man Eddie Vedder was greatly renewed.
It seems there's quite a bit of controversy swarming around about the movie and hence, its soundtrack. There is no secret to the plot from how it begins to how it ends. Bright young kid with a promising future graduates from college, then walks away from everyone and everything he knows, burning his money, ID, etc. and heads off to go live off the land in Alaska for awhile. The CONTROVERSY stems from individual perspectives on whether Chris McCandless was right or wrong in what he did. This stems from the insistence that it must be one or the other. Right OR wrong. What I saw was both. Each a shadow of the other.
Sean Penn had asked Vedder to write a song for the movie, but instead he tackled the entire project, playing every instrument himself. The whole CD tracks in at just over 30 minutes. The listener often feels cheated when such good songs come to an end so abruptly. One at first thinks of Vedder, the "anti-rock star" Rock Star, cutting his songs short to keep from earning a radio hit, but after a few listens, the sudden ending to so many good songs gives me the same feeling those who befriended McCandless must have felt as he arbitrarily moved on. Like his relationships, just as you begin to involve yourself in the song, it ends.
The movie was nothing less than brilliant in it's ability to deliver to the audience the experience of freedom and adventure Chris's travels brought, as well as the darkness of truly being alone, trapped within himself, among everything he was trying to run from. The soundtrack Eddie Vedder delivers is nothing short of the feelings, moods, and messages of the movie itself.
This acoustic and mellow soundtrack puts Eddie Vedder's amazing talent on display. It seems to me he often tries to hide his talent, but here he sets it free. I've never listened to a soundtrack that walked me through my emotions in the pattern this one does. I personally enjoy it best as a whole album (do we use that word anymore?). I like to start with track #1, and listen all the way through #11 with it's "hidden track" at the end. The silence in between is as much of the experience of listening as the songs themselves.
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