NEWS clips about teacher student sexual abuse.

In Thailand prostitution is a multi million dollar trade. 800000 of these prostitutes are underaged. 200000 are under 12!

These videos are a part of the campaign against child prostitution. The aim of this campaign is to compel people to talk about this issue, because talking about this issue is the first step towards pulling down the figures.

http://www.intothewild.com/

http://www.myspace.com/intothewildmovie

Born to be wild
Adaptation of best-selling book goes into uncharted territory

Katherine Monk
CanWest News Service

Friday, October 19, 2007


INTO THE WILD

Starring: Emile Hirsch, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Catherine Keener

Directed by: Sean Penn

Running time: 147 minutes

PG (nudity, coarse language, sexually suggestive scenes)

Rating 4

- - -

Sean Penn has found his ideal alter-ego in Emile Hirsch. Young, fresh-faced and so full of energetic potential and talent that he seems to embody the very essence of the American Dream, Hirsch gives us enough distance from Penn's politicized persona to make Into the Wild more than just a well-crafted statement on the erosion of the democratic principle.

This new movie, directed by Penn and based on the bestseller by Jon Krakauer, transcends a prosaic screenplay and a rather drawn-out dramatic design because Hirsch sucks us into an alternate headspace from the first few frames.

As self-styled back-to-the-lander Christopher McCandless, a kid from privilege who decided to fall off the grid and move to Alaska, Hirsch is impossible not to like.

When we see him at a pivotal family dinner after graduating from university, his white teeth, broad smile and thick hair seem like the ultimate expression of a healthy, free society.

Chris appears to love his sister (Jena Malone) and respect his parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt), making him the spitting image of the perfect son, but soon after leaving home -- and telling his parents he was getting ready for grad school --Chris burns his social security card, his driver's licence and his cash to become Alexander Supertramp.

By falling off the radar of organized society, Chris hopes to strip away the lacre of his privileged life in order to find the gritty grain of personal truth -- but dissolving years of social expectation and class comforts can take time, and so we spend the next two and a half hours watching Chris slough off one layer of symbolic skin after another.

From a stint working in Middle America alongside a more pragmatic kind of dreamer played by Vince Vaughn, to a chance encounter with some free-spirited and largely naked European backpackers, to an ocean-side emancipation amongst aging hippies, Chris finds himself amongst likeminded souls -- but for all the similarities between the young dreamer and the other oddballs along the way, we sense he's still different.

Chris isn't just looking for a new way of life, he's looking to reinvent existence in the hopes of finding the elusive nugget of meaning.

In many ways, the romantic quest is futile -- but as in all Quixotic endeavours, it's the journey that matters more than the destination, and thanks to Penn, it's the journey that makes this movie because he captures the quest in all its different dimensions.

From one angle, we're watching a young man let go of all creature comforts to reconnect to an animal truth. On the other, we're witnessing an intellectual growth spurt that leads to profound metaphysical insights.

More than anything, we're riding shotgun on a grand adventure that traverses the North American continent and explores its wild beauty, as well as its rugged dangers.

Because Hirsch has an on-screen elegance that reads as an intriguing mix of humility and all-American bravado, he overcomes the stumbling blocks that have always kept Penn's screen presence at arm's length.

Where Penn feels pushy and preachy, Hirsch finds natural charm with a twinkle in his eye. They're clearly coming from the same place, but the delivery system makes a huge difference in terms of embracing the larger message.

In a lot of ways, McCandless should be a frustrating protagonist because he's so focused on his destination, he refuses to be swayed or transformed by those around him. Rigidity of purpose can read as closed mindedness, but in the hands of Hirsch -- who hands in a truly Oscar-worthy performance as the freckle-faced Quixote -- it all reads as commitment and youthful romanticism.

It's thanks to Hirsch's endless allure that Penn's potentially self-indulgent script and epic pacing don't get bogged down in self-righteous slop.

Simply a beautiful film voyage that will prove transformative on a personal level, if not a political one, Into the Wild is a surprisingly quiet and restrained effort from one of Hollywood's more explosive voices and volatile personalities.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007