Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Nick Offerman, Kristen Schaal, R.K. Harris, Randall Newsome, Hayley Lovitt, Susan McPhail, John Kap, Alex Van.
Bill Bryson is arguably one of the leading exponents of dramatic and comedic travel writing in the last 50 years, his books have sold millions and they are told as if being let in on series of amusing anecdotes, they veer from the dull and professionally accurate descriptions of a life with a map book in one hand and the inevitable pseudo-snobbish that comes with some of the craft and instead what they become is essential stories of a life well travelled. This is never more perfect than in his best- selling book A Walk In The Woods.
To turn a book on the experience of discovery, of pitting intention against nature as two men walking the 2000 plus miles of the Appalachian Trail into a film, that takes a bigger stretch of the imagination to come through.
A Walk In The Woods is the brain child of the legendary Robert Redford, like many others, a fan of the work of Bill Bryson and someone who has coveted making a film of the experiences faced by Bill and his long estranged friend Stephen Katz for many years.
The trouble is with that kind of wait, of anticipating being able to realise a film’s potential is that Time becomes an angry beast, she snarls at the missed opportunities and can become unforgiving, she can decay the understanding and whilst the final screening may be an enjoyable romp through America’s scenic natural history, the point somehow becomes lost, becomes transparent and withered and whilst it was at pains to point out that the this America is disappearing, so too does the charm of Bill Bryson’s book.
What it does do, where the film succeeds overwhelmingly, is to think of that decayed time, of an America that many in Europe, the wider world and indeed those who live within a short drive of the lengthy Appalachian Trail that only exists in photographic journals and in the minds of cinema goers; an America that is steeped in absolute beauty and sheer vast spaces of splendour and one that has held back the rampant commercialism and consumerism that has spread like a cancerous capitalist dystopia. It makes you believe once more in the power that such an undertaking can achieve in the soul, to be one with all things, and despite the reluctance of the path ahead, is one that is spiritually fulfilling.
Nick Nolte is excellent as the out of shape, physically and mentally, Stephen Katz but the star of this film is no human actor, no person of significance in the wider world, it is the beauty of America herself, one away from the rush of traffic, of commercial gain, of desperate attention disguised as life; America is a very beautiful country, something that unfortunately only A Walk In The Woods can bring to mind.
Ian D. Hall