After reading Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, his account of a hazardous trek to Mt. Everest, a friend recommended I read his previous book, Into The Wild. The book is a touching chronicle of the short, ultimately tragic life of Chris McCandless, who, after graduating from Emory University, gave away all his money and spent the next two years in an extended ramble around the country. He changed his name, cut off all communication with his family, lived and slept rough, and worked short-term jobs in preparation for a "great Alaskan odyssey," during which he planned to live off the land for a few months. Despite having survived several hazardous experiences (being caught in a flash flood, nearly being swept out to sea in Mexico), he miscalculated the difficulties he would have in the Alaskan bush and starved to death. He was 24 years old.

Krakauer's book was first published in 1996. Sean Penn was one of many who were captivated by the story, and went on to write and direct the film of the same name, now out on DVD (from Paramount Vantage). In truth, it's a film better experienced on the big screen. Penn takes full advantage of McCandless's travels, letting the camera sweep over the wide open spaces that still exist in this country; deserts and canyons, the ocean, vast forests. In juxtaposing scenes of McCandless gleefully running alongside wild horses, then walking the garbage-strewn streets of LA amongst the homeless, you wonder why more people aren't tempted to just pick up and leave it all behind.

Penn's portrait is a bit too starry-eyed at times. McCandless (earnestly played by Emile Hirsch) comes across as a modern prophet, whose wisdom brings solace to troubled souls (as when he helps a hippie couple through a rough patch in their relationship, something not in the book). Penn also points heavily to McCandless's troubled childhood as the rationale for his later exploits. While that certainly played a role, the feeling I get from the book is that this was just one more element that contributed to McCandless's desire to search for a greater meaning in life. It's something that has made McCandless's many detractors quite angry; perhaps because he was willing to question the status quo in a way so many people never do. And the running time is a bit long. But it's thought-provoking, and Eddie Vedder's music works marvelously well. The two-disc DVD set also comes with a few bonus features on the second disc.

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One of the greatest pleasures I had at last year's SIFF was seeing Girls Rock! The documentary follows four girls through their week at Portland's Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls, culminating in a concert at the week's end. Filmmaker Arne Johnson heard about the camp when Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein, who'd served as a camp counselor, mentioned it during a panel discussion he was. "She lit into this speech about it that just gave me goosebumps," Johnson recalls. "And I immediately knew there was something there. I called Shane [King, his filmmaking partner], and as soon as we started talking, we realized that aside from the fact that indie-rock-goddesses-meet-8-year-olds-with-guitars was already an interesting hook, we also remembered what it was like growing up in Portland, and that special brand of feminism that was up here. Aside from the amazingness of seeing these girls, we felt like what happens in the Northwest a lot of times can be a good model for communities everywhere"

The two first had to win over the camp's organizers, for other outlets had already tried to capitalize on the camp's success. "The camp is always foisting people off who want to make it famous, or make it into an MTV thing," says Johnson. "They had turned down several people because they were not interested... like I think some TV station wanted to do an American Idol type thing." God forbid! Thus the film doesn't follow in the footsteps of other documentaries built around some sort of competition (e.g. Spellbound, Mad Hot Ballroom). "We wanted to build enough tension in it about the girls, whether or not they were going to be able to handle being on stage, and there were band fights and stuff," Johnson explains. "But we didn't want to ever artificially impose anything. A lot of those other documentaries are entertaining, but they end up going down the same wormhole-some kids cry when they lose, some kids are really happy when they win, and you learn things about how people handle competition. But there's so many other kinds of experiences that kids encounter when they're in groups, and it isn't always about who's winning and who's losing. We really wanted to be an antidote to that."

Not to mention addressing the issue of why girls still need encouragement to pick up an electric guitar in the first place. Most articles have urged something like "Bring your daughters!" when reviewing the film. I'd note that it's just as important-maybe more so-to bring your sons. Check it out at SIFF Cinema, March 7-20. See seattlefilm.org for info.