Based on the 1996 book by Jon Krakauer, “Into the Wild” tells the true story of Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch), an upper middle class graduate of Emory College, who, upon graduation, gives away his life savings and burns his pocket cash, because money “makes you cautious,” and McCandless wants to unburden himself of comfort and security in order to experience life in the raw.

After losing his car in a flash flood (the second scariest part of the movie, the first being when he gets the shit beaten out of him by a railroad cop), McCandless sets out on foot. In the journey across America, he depends on free rides, book-fueled inspiration and an industrious good charm. He passes through landscapes that suggest infinite freedom and the possibilities inherent in vast open spaces. Along the way, he also meets a number of characters with whom he bounces wisdom back and forth like a tennis ball. Despite some useful nuggets McCandless picks up from these characters, he always comes out on top in terms of insightfulness. Game, set, match.

To fund his cross bound journey of enlightenment, McCandless takes several jobs, one of which is on a corn farm in Middle America. While there, he finds a kindred spirit in the farm manager, played by Vince Vaughn. Although their friendship becomes a constant theme throughout the film, it’s never really explained how or why the two became such good pals, and Vaughn’s typically comedic alpha-male character is a bit out of whack for the movie.

Somewhere in between hitchhiking, train hopping and floating on a raft down the Colorado River, McCandless gets it into his head to go to Alaska. He wants to live in the wild, “away from society.” With fierce determination, McCandless begins planning for his “Great Alaskan Adventure,” but as the departure date approaches, his steadfast veneer is pierced by the idea that an enriching life includes living among loved ones. Despite these pinholes of hesitation, he sets out northward.

Living among loved ones was a difficult notion for McCandless. Part of the reason he struck out was to get away from the superficial existence of living in his parents’ world of material concerns, thread together with underlying tensions that would bubble up to the surface in bursts of domestic violence. Throughout the film, McCandless never once notifies his parents of where he is or that he’s OK. His callous negligence destroys the fragile glass around his parents’ sugarcoated world.

After being dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless finds an empty bus, which he makes his home for more than a year. At first, McCandless welcomes the isolation and thrives in the challenges of survival, but loneliness soon creeps in, and the more he thinks about his life, the more he realizes that “happiness is only real when shared.” Based on this conclusion, he packs his backpack to make the return journey to a semi-normal life among loved ones. But his passage is blocked and his journey home is halted.

“Into the Wild” ends in tragedy, but offers inspiration. Despite the stifling social pressure to conform to a life unchallenged, McCandless busts out and fulfills the all-American desire to hit the open road. The fact that he ultimately fails has caused many readers of Krakauer’s book to question the merits of McCandless’ adventure. Penn’s film lets viewers decide whether McCandless’ journey was brave or foolish, but his determination to seek out meaning is noble in itself.