With “Dallas Buyers Club,” director Jean-Marc Vallée made his mark as a master of character studies. And just as that movie gave Matthew McConaughey the chance to explore the damaged, complex Ron Woodroof, “Wild” is the best showcase Reese Witherspoon has had in years, and maybe ever.
The film, based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” chronicles the real 1995 journey of Strayed (Witherspoon) as she hikes the length of the Pacific Crest Trail in an attempt to reground herself after losing control of her life.
The movie layers over Strayed’s hiking journey with flashbacks to her painful past, and if this sounds like an easy structure for communicating growth and catharsis, well, it is. But it’s also effective, and the raw emotion of the flashbacks keeps them from seeming manipulative.
The hiking half of “Wild” makes full use of Witherspoon’s physicality. She’s saddled with an enormous backpack that makes her seem all the tinier, and as she struggles with the physical demands of hiking – heat exhaustion, tasteless mush for dinner every night – she becomes scrappier and stronger, reflecting her internal growth.
But she’s also a pretty woman hiking alone, an uncomfortable dynamic that the movie confronts head-on. “Wild” is one of the smartest movies about the sexual dangers faced by women in a while. Strayed must constantly negotiate uncomfortable, threatening situations from male strangers, and Vallée’s naturalistic directing style gives these encounters the perfect light touch. The looming danger of sexual assault is presented as a fact of life and is all the more striking for it.
Strayed’s past unfolds in chunks, often paralleled with the highs and lows of her hike. Of the two primary actors in Strayed’s past, Thomas Sadoski is serviceable as Strayed’s ex-husband Paul, but Laura Dern shines as Bobbi, Strayed’s mom. Bobbi is cheery and optimistic, but she carries the weight of a difficult life with her. Dern plays her with a genuine tenderness and warmth, and her part of the movie is the most heartbreaking, especially to anyone with fond thoughts of their own mother.
Still, though, this is Witherspoon’s movie, and she owns it. Playing broken and brittle, tough and tired, Witherspoon nails Strayed’s personal and spiritual growth.
“Wild” can be sometimes formulaic, and it occasionally gives in to some hokey instincts. However, Strayed’s story is undeniably vital, and Witherspoon turns in an excellently nuanced performance that anchors the movie. It’s a journey well worth taking.