Travel as escape and freedom: Into The Wild
It is the quintessential film for anyone who loves adventure, a masterpiece of the genre based on the novel Extreme Lands by John Krakauer, directed by Sean Penn, starring Emile Hirsch and with a soundtrack signed and performed by Eddie Vedder. It tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, which confronts you with the question of how much is worth sacrificing for what we each define as freedom. The viewer travels along with the protagonist in his quest for contact with extreme nature, experiencing his critique of consumerist society, grows with him, and follows him to the end with bated breath. A powerful story of a boy who was not perfect, who made mistakes, but in the journey found his freedom. (Cover photo)
Travel as wonder and amazement: The Secret Dreams of Walter Mitty
Directed and starring Ben Stiller, it has a light and dreamy tone with which it addresses important issues. Walter Mitty is the most ordinary man imaginable, until suddenly he has to overcome all his social limitations, overcome insecurity, and start living his dreams. Dreams for which, Walter will understand, it is worth going to the ends of the earth. This delightful story teaches us that if you only have the courage to step out of your comfort zone you can discover magnificent places, meet incredible people and become the best version of yourself. Because traveling makes us compare, opens our minds, makes us wonder: we just need to have the courage to take the first step.
Travel as atonement: Wild
It is the autobiographical story of Cheryl Strayed, played by Reese Whiterspoon, who walks more than 4,000 km in two months, alone with her backpack, to find herself after the insurmountable pain of her mother’s death. The trip here is an opportunity for rebirth: Cheryl knew nothing about hiking, yet she left everything she knew behind, learning in the field how to survive and be with herself. His adventure tells us that sometimes a little bit of loneliness doesn’t hurt so much; in fact, it’s an opportunity to look inside, understand where you’re going and where you’d like to go. In addition, the film shows a truly wonderful cross-section of America: it is the Pacific Crest Trail, a trail from the U.S. border with Mexico to the border with Canada.
Journey as self-discovery: Eat, Pray, Love
One more true story, one more biography: this time the story is that of Elizabeth Gilbert-played in the film by Julia Roberts-who apparently had a perfect life, a perfect job, a perfect marriage. Still, she didn’t feel satisfied with anything, especially herself: and what better way to find herself than to travel to three destinations of the heart, the kind you’ve been dreaming of all your life? In his case they are Italy (Mangia), India (Prega) and Bali (Ama). In a light and pleasant tone, this play makes us reflect on a very important truth: If you are not well with yourself, you will struggle to be well with the rest of the world as well. Moreover, this story proposes a very nice idea: to find for each place, each thing, each person, a word that describes its deepest essence, a word that encompasses all its facets.
What about you, have you discovered your word yet?
