He tore down the curtain of pretension weaved around him since the beginning of his existence. He took to the road and decided to commune with the nature instead of the humankind. In a life warped by domestic lies, forced expectations and false appearances he hits the wild trail in the search of honesty and truth.
Alex risks everything to see himself in Alaska trying to manage living in a forlorn bus all by himself with only nature for company. He shoots game for food, drinks water from the flowing river and enjoys the wild in its full resplendence.
It pains my heart to see the lonely death he dies in the end. He writes in the pages of Dr. Zhivago - Happiness is real only when shared. True sentiment. He dies by lack of judgment. Not the judgement which aided him to take the decisions which led him to Alaska but the error he made while choosing the variety of berries which were not edible.
His attempts to break out from the makeshift arrangements are thwarted by the rising levels of river which he can no longer manage to cross. His will cannot help him here.
He survived for 100 days in the jungle of Alaska. In his last days while lying on the seat of the broken down bus, writhing in pain, wrapped in the sleeping bag, he looks outside the broken window of the bus onto the clear sky thinking of the embracing arms of his parents ready to receive him and accept him.
In my mind i cannot take off the picture of Alex sitting outside his bus posing for a shot for his own camera. He has a calm almost beckoning smile on his face. No sign of the inner struggles. Just the peace that he felt in his surroundings.
He says in the beginning of his story - " Our parents should not have borne us. They don't know how much pain we will bring to them and how much pain they will cause us. "
He experience people and places, the extent which i cannot match in my lifetime. In the spirit and quest of Alex.
We have a greed, with which we have agreed...
and you think you have to want more than you need...
until you have it all, you won't be free.
Society, you're a crazy breed.
I hope you're not lonely, without me
- Society by Eddie Vedder
3 comments:
Its not an uncommon urge to feel to want to be away from everything. I believe everyone feels this urge at least once in their lives, however as Alexander said, caught in the materialism of life we never go for such an option.
PS. Inspired by 'Into the Wild'?
Its the extremity of loneliness that took me by surprise. Its a pity that this guy had to die. He would have had such great insights to share. Materialism blinds. I am no exception to this.
Yes, i am. But i don't know for how long it will last and where it will take me.
Its also a testimony to how much man has corrupted the natural world... and how when he is finally one with nature, he cannot cope...
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