I saw Into the Wild yesterday at the Sunshine theater. Among the people I went to see it with, there were mixed reviews to say the least. Although I'm not really sure how I feel about the movie as a whole (and I wouldn't suggest anyone pay eleven dollars to see it), it definitely reminded me of Rousseau. Here's the imdb profile for it: http://imdb.com/title/tt0758758/A recent college graduate feels suffocated by the pressures of society and his family, so he decides to leave it all behind. He donates his savings to charity and burns the rest of the cash he has before he goes on a journey into the Alaskan wilderness. There, he lives off the land and makes an abandoned old bus his home. He feels true happiness and gains wisdom, but finally (I'm about to give away the ending), he becomes trapped and overwhelmingly lonely. He eventually suffers from the poisonous effects of a plant he has accidentally eaten and starves to death. His demise, to me, speaks to Rousseau's message that you can never really go back.
