Wild Review: The Dern Discovery

Wild by Jean-Marc Vallée is a 2014 film based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of the same name. Within a year of his last release Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Vallée returns with another film which is sure to tug your heartstrings. Wild is a biographical account of Strayed’s journey across 1,100 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail to get her life back on track after being distraught by the sudden death of her mother. The journey of self-discovery is led by Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed and Laura Dern who plays her loving and ailing mother, Bobbi.

Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed in the film

The film follows the journey of a 26-year-old woman who travels across the country in 1995 by foot to be the woman her mother raised. The end of the title card in the film focuses on a burning book. That pretty much sums up how Vallée treats the original text in his interpretation of the film. Along with the pages in the book, some characters in the original text also vanished in the film. Cheryl’s stepdad, Eddie and her sister, Karen are clearly written out of the film. One can only assume that Vallée wanted to focus on Cheryl’s relationship with her mother by doing so as both Eddie and Karen shared a rather complicated, almost non-existent relationship with Cheryl by the end of the book. We even see the author Cheryl Strayed dropping off and saying “Good Luck!” to the on-screen Cheryl Strayed in a pick-up truck in the beginning. From this point on, we know that it is in the eyes of Vallée’s Cheryl Strayed that we are going to embark on the journey of self-discovery.

Right from the vintage logo on Cheryl’s Nalgene bottle to the clothes that she wears, we know that the story is set in the nineties. Both the set designers and costume designers have done an impeccable job in recreating a world without the technology we see today. Contrary to what one might expect from the title of the film, “Wild”, wilderness is merely a prop in the film. Vallée gives us only glimpses of the breathtaking views along the trail. He chose to use extreme wide shots that reveal the landscape mostly to highlight how far Cheryl is on the trail. However, we need to acknowledge the fact that the source text also gave central importance to Cheryl. The beginning of the prologue, “The trees were tall, but I was taller” is an example of how the author established that the focus of this journey will be on her more than it is on the landscape. In that aspect, Vallée stayed true to the text.

If you follow Witherspoon’s body of work, you would know that she is best known for her role as Elle Woods in the comedy film, Legally Blonde. I was not too sure if she would be able to pull off this role as one would associate Witherspoon with more light-hearted movies. However, she was a revelation. Witherspoon’s Cheryl was void of all glamour and portrayed a broken yet determined woman with such effortless restraint. Witherspoon particularly shines in scenes that Cheryl shares with her mother. Laura Dern who plays Bobbi, Cheryl’s mother, is a ray of hope not only for her children but also the audience. The best parts of the sometimes dreary film are the scenes with Bobbi. There is a particular scene where Cheryl calls out her mum for being oblivious of their poor living situation. You are enveloped in a warm hug when she smiles at Cheryl and shares her take on life. Dern’s portrayal made Bobbi not only endearing but also very familiar. She could be any mother. That is what makes it even more painful when we lose her later in the film.

Laura Dern as Bobbi in the film

One very obvious difference between the film and its text would be the sequence in which the narrative is told. Vallée chose to use montages to show Cheryl’s childhood and her flashbacks. Vallée’s master stroke was the way he used the nostalgic montage sequence with Cheryl and her brother, Leif to build up to the moment Bobbi dies and Cheryl crashes.

While the story is about her self-discovery, the screenplay strikes a balance between Cheryl’s reflections, her voice overs and the interactions she has with others on the trail. There are moments of silence but there are also moments we hear Cheryl’s voiceovers when she’s walking and when she writes in her journal. The fact that Vallée chose to have the voiceovers hints to us that he wants to stay true to the book’s personal recount format.

The ending of the film is a befitting ode to the book and the author. The photos provided by Strayed at the end of the film leaves viewers wanting to know more about her story of courage and discovery.

( Essay written for a module on movie adaptations & their original texts )