Cinema has long firmly entered our lives. We are used to watching the fictional stories of the characters, but most of all we are attracted to stories created on the basis of real events. That is what the film "Wild" refers to. He collected mostly positive reviews from viewers and film critics. What is the beauty of this picture, let's understand further.
Plot
A young woman, Cheryl Straid, is experiencing two life tragedies: her mother dies of cancer, and there is a divorce from her beloved husband. The girl is on the verge of a severe depression and decides to arrange another test in order to understand herself and understand how she now lives on.
As such stress, she chooses a difficult route for herself - the Pacific Hiking Trail, which runs in the mountains in the wild. Cheryl awaits many trials and meetings with different people on the way. All of them help a woman understand what is most important for her in life, and what can be neglected.
This is the storyline of the film "Wild", which the viewer watches with bated breath.
The basis of the film and the team of creators
The plot of the picture is an adaptation of Cheryl Straid's autobiographical book, Wild. A Dangerous Journey as a Way to Find Yourself. In it, the author describes everything that happened to her during this difficult journey. 5 months before the official release of the publication, the writer sent a copy to actress Reese Witherspoon. Cheryl wanted to film her story and in the lead role she saw only this actress.
Reese, after reading the novel, immediately bought the rights to its adaptation for Pacific Standard, the co-owner of which is herself. For the film to turn out to be of high quality, the book had to be adapted to the screen realities. Therefore, scriptwriter Nick Hornby was involved in writing the script. He did an excellent job. This is one of the reasons why the film "Wild" received quite positive reviews.
The producer of the film Bruna Papandrea immediately decided on who will become the director of this picture. She saw the film “Dallas Buyers Club” at the stage of production and she decided that Jean-Marc Valle should be the director of the film “Wild”. And he approached this matter thoroughly.
Filming
Jean-Marc understood that any falsity in this picture would be revealed immediately, so he tried to create all conditions as much as possible so that the actress did not have to play as much as live the same life as her heroine. For example, during the filming of Wild, Reese Witherspoon had to carry a very heavy backpack all the time. So she managed to convey the whole range of feelings that Cheryl felt.
She was also forbidden to read the instructions for the tent and tile, so the actress herself dealt with all the subtleties of their use in the same way as her heroine. The director also hung all the mirrors on the set, forbidding Reese to look in them. Otherwise, the actress would like to improve her appearance, which in the future would not quite correspond to what Cheryl actually looked like in the wild.
By the way, Strade herself also appeared in the frame in a cameo role. She drove the main character in a car and wished her good luck in her further search.
Cast
When you look at the picture, it becomes clear how the actors and roles correspond to each other. The film "Wild" is a great example of the quality work of casting managers. Although it was previously mentioned that the writer herself saw only Reese Witherspoon as the main character, there were other suggestions. Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson and Emma Watson were considered as an alternative to Reese, but in the final decision, nevertheless, the latter was taken for the main role.
The remaining roles were distributed as follows:
- Paul, Cheryl's ex-husband is Thomas Sadoski;
- Barbara Gray, mother of the main character - Laura Dern ;
- Jonathan - Mihil Heysman;
- Amy - Gaby Huffmann;
- Frank - William Earl Brown.
Together, they created what many moviegoers know as the movie Wild.
Reese Witherspoon
The future actress was born on March 22, 1976. From childhood, she was an active girl: she participated in local talent shows, starred in commercials, worked as a model, was the captain of a fan team.
Already in 1991, she got to shoot a real film called "Man on the Moon", after which there were other projects. In parallel, the girl was in college, after which she entered Stanford University. However, a year later she had to leave her studies, since it was not possible to combine her with a permanent job.
But until 1998, fame did not come to her. The girl wanted to occupy the highest heights on the Olympus of "Hollywood", so she often refused roles that seemed to her not promising. But in 1998, Pleasantville appeared on the screens, where she was noted for an excellent game. A year later, everyone started talking about her after the premiere of the film "Cruel Intentions."
This was the beginning of her stellar career, which brought her nominations and victories for various popular awards, including the Oscars. By the way, for the film "Wild" (2014), she was also nominated for this prestigious award in the category "Best Actress". True, the main prize she did not get.
Laura Dern
This is the second Oscar nominee from the movie Wild (2014). She was nominated for "Best Supporting Role". Unfortunately, she also did not get the prize. But to say a few words about this actress is worth it.
She was born in February 1967 in Los Angeles. Her family was closely associated with the film business and high society, so the future fate of the girl was a foregone conclusion. She started acting at the age of 8 with her mother, actress Diane Ladd. But the popularity brought her the picture "Blue Velvet" by David Lynch, with whom she later collaborated on several more projects.
During her long career, the actress was also nominated for many prestigious awards, which speaks of her unusual talent.
The movie "Wild": reviews from critics
Immediately after the release, the film was highly appreciated by film critics. They especially note the wonderful acting of the main character, who as accurately as possible gets used to the image of a woman struggling with wildlife and herself.
Also, the high level of the picture is proved by the number of nominations that he received according to different versions. These include:
- Oscar - 2 nominations;
- Golden Globe - 1 nomination;
- BAFTA - 1;
- US Scriptwriters Guild - Best Adapted Screenplay;
- US Actors Guild - Best Actress
And this is not a complete list of all the nominations that the picture collected after the release. Also in the list of "Best Movies According to the RottenTomatoes Website" he takes 430 position.
Viewers Opinions
But reviews of the film "Wild" from ordinary viewers do not always sound unambiguous. Some of them admire both the work of the actress herself and the general spirit of the picture. For many, it has become inspiring, showing how you can cope with life's problems yourself. This is the main thing - to deal with oneself and not sag over trifles.
People also like that this is a real story, so believably narrated by the director and actors. But such incredible stories are found in everyday life, but few people know about them. That is why the viewer believes everything that is happening on the screen and empathizes with the heroes of this tape, which leaves behind itself a desire to reflect on how we live and why.
Those who did not like the film say that it has a very feminist note, that the woman here is shown too independent. Most likely, this is what men say, who do not accept the possibility of the existence of truly strong women, capable of a small but feat.
In any case, the rating of the film according to the version of Kinopoisk is 7.16, and according to IMDb - 7.10. This suggests that the film was almost equally received by viewers around the world. And although his average rating is slightly higher than 7, this only suggests that the film is worthy of attention, because now there are many new paintings on the screens, which are rarely received and 6 in average ratings.
Interesting Facts
And finally, some interesting facts that relate to the film and the process of filming it:
- There is a scene in the film with a young Cheryl. Her role was played by the daughter of a writer who is so much like her mother.
- In the picture, Cheryl reads the book "Disappeared." It was this story that formed the basis of the new Reese Witherspoon project.
- There are bloopers in the film. For example, the action of the picture takes place in 1995, and on the wall calendar you can see the date "Friday, December 7", but in 1995 it was Thursday.
- Costumers and make-up artists also did not work with small details. Watches and bracelets on the main character’s hand jump from left to right in different angles of one scene, bruises either disappear or appear again.
Watching this movie or not is up to you. But in any case, this story is worthy of attention, because it tells about a strong woman who found the strength to pull herself out of a life swamp.