NR | 1h 44m | Adventure, Drama, Thriller | 2014
Today, streaming platforms can fling obscure wilderness dramas right onto our flat screens all day and night, sandwiched between baking competitions and terrible sitcoms. There’s so much digital junk out there that it’s genuinely thrilling to finally click on something brilliant.
A couch-scrolling marathon led to director Frank Hall Green’s 2014 feature “Wildlike.” It’s mostly flown under the radar since its original film festival run but is now available on streaming services, just waiting for people to hit play.
The story captures the immense scale of the Alaskan frontier, as a teenage girl flees an incredibly ugly situation and throws herself into an unforgiving landscape.
The camera drinks in colossal mountains while nature functions as a huge, indifferent beast out there. The trees and rocky trails stretch out forever. The Alaskan landscape threatens to swallow a runaway kid whole while simultaneously offering her the only real sanctuary she has left. She’s just trying to piece her fractured self back together by simply putting one foot in front of the other.
A Troubled Kid and a Stranger
Mackenzie (Ella Purnell) gets sent to Alaska after her deadbeat, drug-addled mother (Ann Dowd) can’t hold things together. She lands in Juneau with her uncle (Brian Geraghty), who pretends to be the world’s best relative.
That living situation turns bad fast. When she realizes that nobody’s coming to save her, she grabs her backpack and bolts. She formulates a rough idea that she needs to get back to Seattle, where her mom is.
While scavenging for a place to hide, she crosses paths with fellow traveler Rene Bartlett (Bruce Greenwood). Rene is a man of character who recognizes a kid in over her head when he sees one. He plans to make a solo trek through Denali National Park to mourn his deceased wife.
Sensing his kind but grieving demeanor, Mackenzie starts trailing him. She follows at a distance at first and then closer, until he finally notices that she’s still there and not leaving.
Once they hit the trail, there’s no easy way to separate. Mackenzie is completely unprepared for the wild country, and Rene quickly figures that out. He doesn’t fully trust her, as she keeps most of her story locked in, but he also knows she won’t last long alone. So he lets her tag along, and the two of them push deeper into the wilderness together. Along the way, they’ll both learn more about themselves and each other.
A Protective Trek Southbound
Since we’re so used to seeing men vilified in Western culture, it’s refreshing to see a man in modern American cinema who actually steps into a protective role without a second thought. Rene doesn’t need a lecture on why he should help a vulnerable young girl. He just does it because it’s the right thing to do. Rene and Mackenzie’s dynamic develops through shared hardships, like freezing rain and sparse rations, rather than forced conversation.
The massive glaciers and miles of hiking trails provide the perfect backdrop for this kind of slow-moving bond, and the remote terrain mirrors the isolation they carry with them. Watching a protective figure naturally shield a kid from the worst parts of the world makes for a much more compelling story than the typical Hollywood drivel.
Greenwood’s portrayal feels incredibly authentic for a man just trying to process his own grief. He’s out in the Denali backcountry to honor his late wife, not to play hero. Likewise, Purnell does a fantastic job of showing how a teenager can be completely terrified yet still possess enough survival instincts to keep her boots moving.
I appreciate films that take on mature subject matter with a sense of restraint and respect, since once things slip into exploitation, the whole experience starts to fall apart. Directors too often treat abuse as a lurid sideshow just to sell tickets.
Frank Hall Green wisely avoids that trap. He presents the nightmare through clear eyes and trusts the audience to understand the horrors of the situation.
It’s a rare pleasure to find a story that respects its characters enough to let their actions speak for their integrity, and “Wildlike” does just that. This journey through the Alaskan wilderness is a reminder that sometimes the most powerful thing a person can do is to look after those who are most vulnerable.
“Wildlike” is available on GanJingWorld.
‘Wildlike’
Director: Frank Hall Green
Starring: Ella Purnell, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Diane Farr
Not Rated
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2015
Rated: 4 stars out of 5
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