I watched this movie last night. It was recommended by my Canadian wife's best friend. Her friend said that the world would be such a better place if Al Gore was president, And she just bought a green eco house. The house is cool but it is not eco at all, it has the same appliances as my house does.

So anyway her friend is great I really like her we just live in different mindsets. We rented the movie last night and I saw that Sean Penn had a big part in this. Not acting but the making of it. Sean Penn is a super liberal, I mean insanely liberal. If you dont know what that means I will give you my view of it. Liberals are the type of people that think the government should take care of the people because they dont know how to. To do this the way the government would have to pay for everything from education to health to housing, and much more. Also they need the government to make things equal for everybody, from income to name calling, and regulate it all. Basically the final outcome is no responsibility is on anyone and only on the government, nobody can do better than anybody else because it is not fair and there are no boundaries of morality because it is different for everybody even child molesters. This concept gives the government control of every aspect of your life and that means government has to be a big entity. When in my conservative mindset government is the problem.

So this movie starts as a political hit and a bust on society. Which is fine society is screwed up. But it takes a typical stereotypical wealthy, white, Christian family and show them as materialistic pro war "republican" one at that. This is such a stereotype. The family also mocks that type of family by making it dysfunctional to make the point that this is how a "perfect American family is". It shows this kid as ANGRY at the world thanks to society, parents, money, government, and religion. So he decides to get rid of his identity and give up everything to live on his own survival skills answering only to the wild. The first half of the movie is boring and self righteous, like a stereotypical liberal. He basically is a self made boy scout.

He runs across three major characters, and a few minor ones. This is where it gets good. While he still runs into the society that is easy to mock at takes major hits at "white authority" this kid begins to change. He comes across the funny guy in the wedding crashers that teaches him about working and a few other important things that break him down a little from his self-righteous high horse. He runs into a couple that is the hippie type that travel around in their camper. The woman has not seen her kid in 2 years, about the same as the kid in this movie and she sort of really becomes attached to this kid. Then he also runs into this 16 year old girl that wants him and he positively influences her. At the end which is the best he runs into a older man who has lost his family and makes a living working on leather which is something of a hobby. Now as far as this last guy is concerned he is wondering why he has not done the standard go to school get a job type thing. His reason is that it is not living life. the kid introduces him to the natural beauties of the world and the kid also reveals his strong feelings about God that he found on this journey.

In all the movie is boring and pretty lame. It does touch on a few things that I think are good for everyone, as long as you can see them in the movie. Some of the positive things which are minimal in this movie, and contradict most of the purpose of the film, are morals, that come in a natural sense that the liberal movement seeks to destroy saying morals are religious. Family in a sense that it is obvious how they have been hurt by the selfishness of the self-righteous kid and the other woman. Also in the way of the older man that has lost his. Government idiocy by the ways they control all aspects of life and of nature and the human spirit. Materialist wants which is a great lesson to everybody. You may think this is a hit at the rich in a way but it is also a hit at the people that live by the hand of the government if you understand human greed. Example that is overlooked in the movie, is you have the so called poor people that live off the government that everybody else is forced to pay for. The government does not help. They dont solve the problem at all, the solution is not to spend other peoples money on others but to get the people from having to use other peoples money. It is that simple. They actually only show a bunch of black people hanging on the street. That seems pretty degrading to blacks and puts a anti "rich white" theme to push on you. It all reinforces the harm put on society by the kids parents. You have the old man that puts a positive outlook on God in the mix to contradict the "rich white Christian" parents version of God. None the less it is a great spiritual message.

Anyway if you watch this movie do it with open eyes and dont let it lead you because it is meant to.