I spent time travelling like Alex -- as it happens in Europe and Africa -- and this film captures the rough, the smooth, the greatness of people, basically all of it, better than any film I've seen.
I've also lived in America and really appreciated the time given here to showing the landscape and even more the people, most of them really kind and helpful to anyone who doesn't threaten them.
The acting is superb though not at all of the Shakespearean variety (that has its place also!). I can hardly think of a scene in the film that does not have an equivalent in my travels. This no doubt is the reason commentators have called it clichéd. So is life, patterns re-occur.
Sean Penn and his team deserve a lot of credit for their bravery in persuading their backers to allow them to let the material find its own length, 2.5 hours as it happens. I wasn't bored for one second. It's a film about a naive, idealistic young man who did find some answers but no time to put them into practice.
I've also lived in America and really appreciated the time given here to showing the landscape and even more the people, most of them really kind and helpful to anyone who doesn't threaten them.
The acting is superb though not at all of the Shakespearean variety (that has its place also!). I can hardly think of a scene in the film that does not have an equivalent in my travels. This no doubt is the reason commentators have called it clichéd. So is life, patterns re-occur.
Sean Penn and his team deserve a lot of credit for their bravery in persuading their backers to allow them to let the material find its own length, 2.5 hours as it happens. I wasn't bored for one second. It's a film about a naive, idealistic young man who did find some answers but no time to put them into practice.