We watch his adventures along the way, and the close bonds he makes with people he meets. We also see the development in his philosophies.
He begins with a vague philosophy against material wealth - why do we have the constant need to own one more thing? I understand this philosophy and I can see where he is coming from.
Throughout the film, he develops philosophies around freedom: he believes he will find ultimate truth when he wholly embraces nature - when he lives alone, surviving in the wild. This philosophy, I find harder to grasp - it ignores human nature.
The film is a great story - though I did feel it went on a bit too long. Our protagonist is a very interesting character with a difficult past (though I felt this 'difficult past' was a bit unnecessary to the film - it wasn't really about his past, it was about his mind and philosophy of life).
Warning: the film does not have a happy ending. It's a gruesome ending, which highlights the problems with Chris'/Alex's final philosophy.
He believes he will find 'truth' in ultimate solace in the wild, but soon discovers abject loneliness - relationships are a part of human nature. We naturally live in communities. Without anyone around to help for hundreds of miles, Alex dies of berry poisoning, having neglected to pay attention to his education of wild plants.
Overall, I thought the film was pretty good. A good adaption of the true story, well acted/directed/scripted.
It's not a story that will make you want to follow in his footsteps - but it is a story that will make you think about human nature, the mind, and the way society has developed.
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