Sean Penn steps behind the camera once more to helm his most critically claimed film yet, bringing along plenty of friends for help. For a low budget film, the cast includes Oscar nominees and winners like William Hurt, Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook (who was nominated for his role in this film). Add Grammy award winner and lead singer of Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder, who supplied the score for the film, and you have a wealth of talent behind this intriguing yet tragic tale. Vedder’s score, much like Simon and Garfunkel’s songs in The Graduate, are an important voice and tone throughout the entire film.

The film is different then the book in that the story has a linear structure and is narrated by Christopher’s own writings, with a portion narrated by his younger sister Carine. The book, relies on interviews and has a more documentary vibe then this more tradition theatrical route. Still, both give an in-depth look into the complex character of Christopher McCandless, and his journey of discovery.

The film was released late last year to a very limited release and was treated like an art film. So if you missed it or if it never came to you city, never fear it’s now available on blu-ray. This edition includes all the features that were available on the standard DVD that came out earlier this year, including the feature film and two documentaries. The first documentary entitled “The Story, The Characters” looks at how Sean Penn brought the novel to the big screen. The second called “The Experience” looks at the actual filming. Both serve to give you a little more on what goes on to get a film from the page to the screen. They are both descent little featurettes but feel a little flimsy when it comes down to a true story. The story was also recently made into a documentary “The Call of the Wild” by Ron Lamothe and it was not included in the original standard DVD and it would have been nice if they added it for the blu-ray. Although there are stories that Penn and Lamothe had run-ins when the both of them were making their films and could be why neither are sold together or as companion pieces. Another feature missing is a commentary track which would have been a nice edition to the blu-ray. Especial one with Penn and perhaps even some of the real people depicted in the film like Chritospher’s sister.

Into the Wild is a story about a free-spirit looking for answers in the world. Christopher McCandless’s story is both tragic and maybe even heroic, but all the time fascinating. Either way you look at it, Christopher was a young soul that’s flame blew out way too soon. Now in blu-ray, the film looks better than ever and is worthy of the format.

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