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Sean Penn's magnificent film of the true story of Christopher McCandless' search for the truth is indeed a story of broken attachment and unhealed wounds.
Christopher, movingly portrayed by Emile Hirsch, graduated from his West Virginian university in 1990, but it is obvious from the start that he is not going to conform to the usual paths of post-graduate goals expected by his parents, and instead of going to law school he decides to head out into the great expanses of the North American continent to search for his own particular truth, in much the same way as countless travellers have set out before him, seeking a freedom in the wondrous landscape which they were not able to feel within themselves.
He feels that the four years of his study have cut him off from the truth of his existence, and his first act of freedom is to donate his savings of $24,000 to Oxfam, before setting off in his old jalopy for the unknown. His father had wanted to give him a new car on his graduation, but Chris rejected this offer - there's nothing wrong with the one he has - and anyway, his fiercely rigorous moral code dictates that he does not want ‘things’. The odd cash in his pocket is ritually burned before he sets out. He renames himself, Alexander Supertramp.
‘How important it is, not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong’, he says. We then begin to discover how fragile is his inner world. His sister takes up the narration, and we learn that the siblings had been subjected to daily bouts of rage and violence in the house for as long as they can remember. His father had been successful and made money, but it was not long before there was talk of divorce: the children were asked which of the parents they would choose to live with. In the event, the divorce never happened, but Christopher was to discover a secret that perhaps had even more damaging effects.