There are always stories that deserves to be told. Cheryl Strayed had a very good one: her journey to hell and back. Cheryl was a talented student of literature and more than an aspiring writer, but as you know life is what happens while you’re doing something else. Her beloved mother get sick and died of cancer in a snap. And Cheryl went crazy, she became a drugs addict and a compulsive nympho trying to forget her loss. Then one day she found the way to sort out from this hell. A very very long way.
Wild is the story of this journey, not only a physical long march on the road of Pacific Cross Trail, 1.200 miles from Mexican border to Canada, but most of all a spiritual descent into the darkness of the soul. Nick Hornby loved the story of this woman, actually not far from his heroin of How to be Good, one of his best and most sincere novels, and found the perfect producer and star to put it on screen.
Very well directed by Jean-Marc Vallèe, definitely not an author but a good director who’s able to play with the audience feelings, Wild is the perfect vehicle for Reese Witherspoon, in some ways an actress who has a lot in common with Cheryl, lost in bad performances for even worst roles and with may personal issues that slowed her rising career. But the former Elle Woods is a smart girl, so she turned herself into production (Gone Girl, do you ever heard about it?) and with American Tracks is on the run for the Oscars once again.
Wild is one of those inspirational movies that you want to watch again and again when you’re life is not getting the right direction, dreaming of a night under the stars looking for The Answer. The right one actually doesn’t come easy, but the story of Cheryl definitely doesn’t hurt.