The Call of the Wild (2007 film)

The Call of the Wild is a 2007 documentary film by the independent filmmaker Ron Lamothe. The premise details the odyssey of Christopher McCandless as Lamothe takes a road trip across North America to the places McCandless visited. Within the film, Lamothe reaches conclusions about McCandlesss death which contradict both Sean Penns film Into the Wild and Jon Krakauers book Into the Wild.

Lamothe then ventures to California and visits Slab City where McCandless had stayed during the Christmas holidays in 1991. Lamothe tours Salvation Mountain and interviews Leonard Knight, who built the site and claims to have met McCandless during his stay. On June 3, Lamothe and a friend travel to Lake Mead and discuss the casting choice of Emile Hirsch as McCandless in the upcoming film. They incidentally pass through Penns production as he sees two yellow Datsun props, the same car McCandless had and lost during a flash flood. Lamothe has the entire Lake Mead to himself without being bothered by Penns crew, who chose to film in a different location.Lamothe then decides to visit Carthage, South Dakota where McCandless took on a job working at a grain elevator in September 1990 and in April 1992. However, like McCandless, Lamothe travels to Carthage solely by hitchhiking. Lamothe travels through Colorado with an exdrug dealerwho used to live in Alaskaand along I80 through Nebraska to Council Bluffs, Iowa with a group of young adults who enjoy collecting mushrooms alongside the road. After days of hitchhiking, Lamothe finally makes it to Carthage, but learns that no one in the town will take interviews for his documentary since they are under contract by Paramount Vantage for Penns film. However, Lamothe does get to interview the truck driver who gave McCandless a ride from Cathage to Enderlin, North Dakota as his life story was not owned by Paramount. ........

Source: Wikipedia