A startling evocation of the beauties of nature, Sean Penn's film is a lyrical, tragicomic reconstruction of the journey of a young man who spurned society and his bickering parents to head for Alaska and his dream of a lonely kind of freedom. It's persuasively put together, technically adroit and with a burningly intense central performance by the little-known Emile Hirsch. The film is written by Penn, from Jon Krakauer's book, which retraced the central figure's journey, and, for a long film (142 minutes), this is a surprisingly engrossing one.