My Walk In The Woods movie ticket |
A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson is still a fond book with awesome humor and a different life perspective from the other side of the pond that I appreciate. The film, directed by veteran Television and film director Ken Kwapis, stars actors Robert Redford and Nick Nolte and the Appalachian Trail. Kwapis also directed Route 66, The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants and many other feature films and television shows. This film explores relationships, and how they still show connected-ness even after years of being apart; what had originally brought them together then, now holds them together on an adventure today. Like the book, the film highlights more than a few humorous moments, like when Bryson's wife scoffs in her British accent "You want to hike the Appalachian Trail, 2000 miles... you could die out there." My wife would say that too, without the accent. And she would demand that someone goes with me for safety along the trail, which in the story is just how Katz tags along.
Movie poster shot at McAfee Knob |
The film crew worked with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to show the trail as backpackers see it; a community of different people hiking together and separately reaching common goals, with actually some of the best of what American Community Spirit has to offer. The crew felt an obligation to work with the Conservancy and the hikers to do it the right way. I really enjoyed the film, as a hiker, an ultralight backpacker, an Eagle Scout, a lover of the "Green Tunnel", a media professional and a writer.
Robert Redford plays an older, more conservative Bill Bryson than presented in the book and Nick Nolte plays a more outlandish rogue of Steven Katz. The balance works well for me and the humor is still very good. In Bryson's book that I still re-read, the two hikers never do complete the trail, but are still happy with what they accomplished. They HIKED the Appalachian Trail!
Which is what my parents should have allowed to happen back in 1970. Maybe I would have finished the trail and come back, completed high school, gone on to college and perhaps attacked life in a different way than I did. And that is what the Appalachian Trail is all about.
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