Based on Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Wild is a 2014 American adventure/drama film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and starting Reese Witherspoon.
The screenplay, written by Nick Hornby, chronicles Strayed’s (Reese Witherspoon) trekking adventure along the Pacific Trail, her personal growth and the dramatic events - such as the death of her mother (Laura Dern) - that led her to embark on that trip. The film also features Thomas Sadoski, Michiel Huisman and Gaby Hoffmann in supporting roles.
After premiering at the Telluride Film Festival on August 29, 2014, and being released theatrically on December 3, 2014 in the USA, the film has received positive critical reviews, much of which praised Reese Witherspoon’s and Laura Den’s performances. Both of them received Academy Award nominations for their performances in the categories of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
On website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 221 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “Powerfully moving and emotionally resonant, ‘Wild’ finds director Jean-Marc Vallée and star Reese Witherspoon working at the peak of their respective powers.”
AO Scott of The New York Times wrote that Witherspoon, who appears in nearly every frame of the film, portrayed Strayed "with grit, wit and unblinking honesty.”
Scott makes an informed observation of the film: “The story ‘Wild’ has to tell is partly about how Cheryl deals with hardship, and about how, following a piece of long-ago maternal advice, she learns to put herself ‘in the way of beauty.’ But it is also about her appetite for difficulty and her insistence on confronting ugliness, inside and out.”
Scott highlights the intricate structure of the film and praises its narrative: “The structure of ‘Wild’ is as complicated as its themes. The ‘action’ on the trail — walking, thinking, pitching the tent at night and packing it up in the morning — is punctuated by looping reminiscences of the life that preceded it. What is most audacious about the film (...) is how closely it follows and how fully it respects Ms. Strayed’s free-associative, memory-driven narrative. In its thrilling disregard for the conventions of commercial cinematic storytelling, ‘Wild’ reveals what some of us have long suspected: that plot is the enemy of truth, and that images and emotions can carry meaning more effectively than neatly packaged scenes or carefully scripted character arcs.”
Although the film doesn’t rely much on dialogue or monologue, for that matter, it does show some powerful screenwriting brought to life by top-class performances. Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, praised Witherspoon and Dern’s performances. “Witherspoon is actually a little old for the part of Strayed (which was a name she adopted after fleeing a troubled marriage), who was just 26 when she decided to hike the 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mexican border to the mountains of Oregon.
“But Cheryl obviously had been through enough painful experiences by then to make her look older than her years. Witherspoon transforms herself both physically and emotionally into this hardened yet needy young woman seeking to reinvent herself after a series of personal tragedies. She chose this marathon hike almost on a whim, and she was completely unprepared for the challenges. As Strayed wrote in her book, “I hadn’t factored in my lack of fitness, nor the genuine rigors of the trail, until I was on it.’ Witherspoon captures all the conflicting, dizzying emotions that the adventure stirs in her.”
He also praised Laura Dern’s performance: “who plays her mother, Bobbi, an inspiring life force who is stricken with a devastating medical diagnosis. We learn of the closeness of their bond only gradually. The film begins with Cheryl midway through her odyssey, undergoing some physical setbacks in the wilderness. Flashbacks take us back to the beginning of her journey and then much further back into her childhood and through her turbulent family and marital relationships. This fractured storytelling is getting to be overused in contemporary movies, but it happens to be faithful to the way that Strayed wrote her book, and Hornby and Vallee make the intricate transitions pointed and crystal clear.“
He also praised Vallee, claiming he “has crafted a vivid wilderness adventure film that is also a powerful story of family anguish and survival” and Hornby for adapting “the book with finesse.” He also said “Vallee’s latest offering is alternately harrowing and heartbreaking, but laced with saving bursts of humour.”