On the 52nd Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Three Films That Help Preserve the “Geography of Hope”

Over fifty years ago, Wallace Stegner penned a letter about the need to protect what was then remaining of the American wild, and this iconic letter was used as an introduction to The Wilderness Act, signed into law by President Johnson on September 3, 1964. In this plea Stegner writes of the importance of the maintenance of nature against personal and monetary use. He describes the need for preservation for individual well being, to give us respite from technology and commerce, and to promote an understanding of our place in the world.

“These are some of the things wilderness can do for us. That is the reason we need to put into effect, for its preservation, some other principle that the principles of exploitation or “usefulness” or even recreation. We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” Wallace Stegner, 1960

These three films capture the lasting impact of experiencing nature, how it can leave indelible marks and forever impact our understanding of the world.

1. Into The Wild (2007)

In this adaption of Jon Krakauer’s book, director Sean Penn captures the expansive wilderness and deep introspection of a young man, seeking both to escape and connect to others and the world. His path into the wild is brilliantly echoed by a score by Eddie Vedder.

2. Wild (2014)

Nick Hornby’s adaptation and Jean-Marc Vallee’s direction brings Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of hiking 1100 coastal miles to screen. According to the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) there has been a 30% increase in attempts to hike the trail since the publication of the book in 2012. And in a 2014 interview with The Seattle Times, the director of the PCTA, described being “thrilled that there are more people who know about the PCT and more people who care about the PCT, because if people don’t care about the PCT, they’re not going to step in and help protect it.”

3. The Same River Twice (2003)

On of my favorite documentaries, this award-winning film by Robb Moss, Chair of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard, follows a group of friends on a trip on the Grand Canyon, and then revisits them twenty years later. The first footage captures impromptu life connected to nature with requisite style 1970s nudity and inhibitions along the rapids of the Colorado River. The second footage follows the friends into their modern lives. Stephen Holden of The New York Times called the film “a piercingly poignant then-and-now portrait…so palpable it puts a lump in your throat.”