| Call of the Wild | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ron Lamothe |
| Written by | Ron Lamothe |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Call of the Wild is a 2007 documentary by independent filmmaker Ron Lamothe. The premise details the odyssey of Christopher McCandless.
Contents |
During the summer of 2006, Ron Lamothe, an aging filmmaker whose projects seem to be on hold due to him being a committed father, decides to make a road trip documentary on Christopher McCandless. Lamothe begins his journey in California at Slab City where McCandless stayed during the holidays in 1991. From there, Lamothe ventures to Lake Mead, incidentally passing through Sean Penn's production of Into the Wild, a major motion picture adaptation about McCandless. Lamothe then decides to visit Carthage, South Dakota where McCandless took on a job working on a farm in September 1990 and April 1992. However, like McCandless, Lamothe travels to Carthage solely by hitchhiking. After many days of traveling, Lamothe finally makes it to Carthage, but learns that no one in the town will take interviews for Lamothe's documentary since they are totally under contract by Paramount Pictures for Penn's film. Finally, Lamothe arrives in Alaska to see the bus where McCandless died in August 1992. [1]
Lamothe documents several new findings against Krakauer's book and Penn's film. One finding states for a fact that McCandless was not poisoned by potato seeds as Krakauer suspected as the seeds are, in fact, harmless (the film depicts that McCandless was poisoned by wild berries he mistakenly had eaten).
McCandless also did not destroy his driver's license or social security card, nor did he burn all his cash. In fact, in a hidden pocket found on McCandless's backpack was his wallet with all forms of ID and $300 in cash.