Wild

If you've ever doubted that Reese Witherspoon is a good actress, this film will forever prove you wrong.
Reese Witherspoon is literally a one-woman show as Cheryl Strayed in this film. She is a damaged woman, suffering greatly from the unexpected death of her beloved mother, Bobbi (Laura Dern). Bobbi was diagnosed with cancer and died just one month later, when the doctor said that she could expect roughly a year. Her son, Leif (Keene McRae), never even got to say good-bye. After Bobbi's death, Cheryl turned to having casual sex with anything that moved, humping guys in broad daylight in alleys behind the diner where she worked. And then the heroin use started and, not surprisingly, her marriage to the kind Paul (Thomas Sadowski) was completely eroded. To turn her life around, she starts walking the 1,200 mile trek of the Pacific Crest Trail, starting in the desert near the Mexican border.
Her journey is perilous and lonely, not to mention dangerous. She nearly runs out of water because a water tank is dry. She is nearly raped by a creepy hunter who sneaks up on her when she is starting to make camp, plus her hiking boots fall off a cliff because she was stupid and placed one too close to the edge. Luckily, she was able to get new ones, thank goodness. Despite everything, she has incredible strength and manages to finish, curing herself of all the ills that troubled her life before. She managed to turn her life around and become the woman her mother raised her to be, just as Witherspoon's narration described.
Witherspoon's performance is magnificent, from struggling to lift her heavy backpack, stuffed with food, tents and supplies, everything she would need to survive along the journey, though she didn't read some instructions as she has the wrong fuel needed for her portable stove. And, despite being more than a decade older than her character, Witherspoon still looks fairly realistic as the young college student and waitress. She deserves every nomination she receives, if not the award itself.
Of course I had problems with the film. One is that Cheryl becomes pregnant during her addiction and casual sex stage, but doesn't have the baby. Whether she has the abortion or just had a miscarriage is unclear, though she would eventually get married and have two children with her husband. (She and Paul get divorced, big surprise there.) I also wish the ending would have showed all the good that happened to Cheryl, not just have her tell us what happened. And, to the nit-picky parts. In one of the first scenes, just as Cheryl is starting out on the trail, her watch and bracelet switch wrists between edits, bothering me to no end. Also, the fuel can she kicked away because it was no good, makes a return appearance, even after she buys the proper fuel. Sure, she could have gone to pick it up, but we never see the good fuel can again. I know I'm crazy nit-picky as the vast majority of the film was incredibly gritty and realistic with fairly authentic sets as Cheryl hiked the trail in 1995. The scenery is incredible and the cinematography breathtaking, but it is the little details that need to be great.
Though it is disturbing to see a woman let others treat her so horribly, Cheryl makes a true difference in her life and that must mean something; she made her life matter. And that does mean something, not just to her, but to the audience as well. Grade: A-