Christopher McCandless was a man of principles. Maybe they're not yours and maybe he should have been a little more flexible in following them, but he certainly had principles.

Believing that there was more to life than a career, money, and human interaction, McCandless left it all behind after graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1990. Signing over his savings in excess of $20,000 to charity and heading out on a Kerouac-like journey across America to a destination unknown, McCandless’ story was featured in the 1996 book, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer.

And now the film version of that book has arrived, directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch as the adventurous and self-preserving McCandless. If it’s possible to combine the two, Into the Wild feels like a cross between Homer’s The Odyssey and Leaving Las Vegas, the former because it’s a travelogue made more interesting by the human interaction McCandless swears he doesn’t need but is fortified by, and the latter because the very nature of McCandless’ philosophy and journey is self-destructive, perhaps even fatalistic.

When he finally reaches his goal, an Alaskan winter spent living off the land, Christopher McCandless had abandoned his car and set fire to the rest of his money in Arizona, adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and met two like-minded hippies, Jan and Rainey (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker), kayaked down the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon to Mexico, hopped trains up the Western United States, flipped burgers to buy supplies and outfitted himself for half a year in the Alaskan wilderness.

It takes Penn about 40 minutes to settle into his storytelling, bouncing from McCandless’ “Great Alaskan Adventure” and his reasons for leaving a good, safe life behind. Weeks in the bitter cold are offset by chapters in McCandless’ journey and the memorable characters he meets. Of these, a kindly senior named Ron Franz becomes his closest confidant. Hal Holbrook should be in line for an Academy Award nomination for his compassionate portrayal of Franz, drawing the most out of Hirsch’s intelligent, brooding but often petulant performance.

When you learn more about why Christopher McCandless sought a different life, part of you will probably envy his courage, but it’s a courage that has cowardice at home. Rather than facing his real demons, McCandless ran away from the old ones and invented new ones. Therefore, it’s difficult to completely fall in love with the guy, despite your sympathies.

Hirsch brings all of those things to life in his best performance to date, and Sean Penn has shown tremendous growth as a filmmaker since his last effort, The Pledge (2001), crafting Into the Wild as a meticulous meditation on life and living it your own way.

Into the Wild
Starring Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook
Directed by Sean Penn
Rated R