A SELECTION OF THE BEST TRAVEL FILMS (PART 2)

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CINEMA TRIPS

Friends! We invite you to the world of travel and cinema! We continue to travel with the best movies that are about traveling and travelers.

Read the first part here.

In this selection, we will take a look at such movies as “In the Wild” (2007), “The Bucket List” (2007), “Eat, Pray, Love” (2010), “The Way” (2010) and “Trails” (2013), which will make us get to the most beautiful corners of the world.

Let’s start with a trip to Alaska!

Into the Wild

The feature film  “Into the Wild” (2007, USA) is an adventure biographical drama directed by Sean Penn based on the book of the same name by John Krakauer. The story follows Christopher McCandless, who, after graduating from Emory University, gives up everything he owns, gives away his entire savings of $24,000 to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher meets some people that help him to consider his life through.

Emil Hirsch starred in the main role.

Emory University graduation scenes in the movie were shot at the end of 2006 on the lawn in front of Reed College. Some  graduation scenes were also filmed during Emory University’s actual graduation on May 15, 2006. The Alaskan scenes surrounding the abandoned bus on the trail were filmed 50 miles (80 km) south of where McCandless actually died, in the tiny town of Cantwell. The replica bus used in the film is a tourist attraction at a restaurant in Hila, Alaska.

Brian Dierker, who stars in the film’s supporting role as Rainey, had no previous acting experience and entered the production to act as a guide in the rafting scenes.

The Bucket List

If you dream of a world trip, we recommend watching the feature film “The Bucket List”. 

The Bucket List” (2007, USA) is an adventure drama with elements of comedy directed by Rob Reiner, which tells the story of how two terminally ill elderly men escape from hospital and go on a journey making a list of wishes that must be fulfilled before death. The main roles were performed by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

Shooting took place in the USA, France, China, Egypt, India, Tanzania.

While watching this movie, you can travel around the world with the characters: visit the Egyptian pyramids, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the Himalayas, currently crossing out point by point on a yellow sheet of paper.

In the end of the movie, Cole’s assistant, carrying out his will, climbs the highest mountain in the North American Cordillera to leave a coffee can with his boss’s ashes at the top. Placing it in the casket next to the urn already there with Chambers’ ashes, he looks around at the majestic snow-capped peaks around him and crosses out the only remaining item on the sheet of yellow paper: “To witness something truly grand.”

Eat, Pray, Love

Now let’s go to New York, Rome and Naples, Delhi and Pataudi, Ubud and Padang Padang Beach in Bali.

Feature film “Eat, Pray, Love” (2010, USA) is a biographical melodrama directed by Ryan Murphy, an adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiographical piece having the same name. The story is about a married woman who realizes how unhappy her marriage really is and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After the divorce, she goes on a trip around the world to “find herself”. The main roles were played by Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem.

  We will tell a little bit about each location, since they are worth our attention.

Location #1 Apartment, New York.

The heroine’s apartment in New York was located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Cobble Hill. The authorities have forbidden the construction of high-rise buildings here, but Gothic skyscrapers from the beginning of the 20th century stand outside the perimeter. At the end of the last century, this place became one of the most prestigious and expensive in Brooklyn. Shooting also took place at the corner of 4th Street and Bowery on the East Side.

Location #2 Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome.

Elizabeth’s first romantic impressions are a view of the observation deck of Castel Sant’Angelo towards Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II, Rome, Italy.

Location #3 L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, Naples.

The famous pizzeria is located in the south of Italy, has been working since 1906 and got the title of “sacred temple of pizza”. The founder of the pizzeria, Michele Condurro, said: “There are only two types of Neapolitan pizza – Marinara and Margherita.”  

Location #4 Il Gelato di San Crispino, Rome.

Elizabeth ate something delicious all the time. For example, her favorite ice cream is at Il Gelato di San Crispino. She went there three times a day. An ice cream there costs around €5.5.  They say this is the best ice cream in Rome.

Location No. 5 Restaurant Santa Lucia, Rome.

Elizabeth orders food in Italian. A restaurant with a lovely garden, located in a tiny square next to Piazza Navona.

Location #6 Osteria dell’Antiquario, Rome.

In this osteria in Piazza San Simeone, Elizabeth dines alone and watches a couple kissing.

Location #7 Hari Mandir Ashram, Pataudi.

After a few months in Italy, Elizabeth flies to Delhi and then lives in the Hari Mandir ashram in Pataudi province, 60 kilometers from Delhi. Filming also took place in the palace of the Nawab of Pataudi, the Ram Mandir temple and several villages.

Location #8 Pengosekan, Mas, Ubud, Bali

The last point on Elizabeth’s map was the island of Bali. She comes to her old acquaintance Ketut Lier – a Balinese healer and soothsayer. This is his real name, but he died at the age of 100 and now his son, to whom the master passed on his knowledge, is engaged in healing practices. According to the film, the heroine lives at his place, helps to write down all his knowledge in one book and spends every morning in prayers, as she did in India. Today, everyone can visit this place, and even stay in the apartments for a few days.

Location #9 House in Ubud, Bali.

The same house in the rice fields that Liz lived in.

Location #10 Padang Padang Beach, Bali.

The beach is quite small and cozy, in addition, it is located next to the road, so it is very popular among tourists, so if you come to the island of Bali during the season, it will be quite crowded and this is the main disadvantage. A few years ago, this beach was “secret” and only locals knew about it, but after the movie, its popularity increased a lot.

The Way

The next strip will take us to France and then to Northern Spain.

Feature film “The Way” (2010, USA) is a drama directed by Emilio Estevez about a journey along El Camino de Santiago known in English as the Way of St James.  The story tells about an elderly American Tom Avery, an ophthalmologist from California, who comes to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France) for the body of his only son Daniel, who set out on a pilgrimage along the famous The Camino de Santiago and died during the storm. Suddenly, Tom decides to walk all this way himself along with his son’s ashes.

The main roles were played by Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez.

El Camino de Santiago  is a pilgrimage route to the supposed tomb of the Apostle James in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, the main part of which runs in Northern Spain. Due to its popularity and extensiveness, this route influenced the spread of cultural achievements in the Middle Ages.

In the second half of the 20th century, a significant contribution to the restoration of the pilgrimage route was made by Elias Valinha Sampedro, thanks to his efforts, starting from the 1980s, the popularity of the route began to grow again.

The shooting of the film lasted 40 days. Estevez had a very small crew and shot with available light. Night scenes were shot while using candlelight and campfire light.

Tracks

Thanks to the next movie, we can travel through mysterious Australia with a young girl and her dog.

Feature film “Tracks” (2013, Australia) is an adventure biographical drama directed by John Curran, based on the book of the same name by the Australian writer Robin Davidson, which is based on her nine-month journey through the Australian deserts.

The story tells about a young Australian woman, Robin Davidson, who in the mid-70s decides to cross the deserts of her native continent on her own and walk from the town of Alice Springs in the center of Australia to the west coast of the country. To make the 2,700 km journey, she learns everything about camels, buys four animals, and signs a contract with National Geographic magazine in which she agrees to be photographed by photographer Rick Smolan during the journey.

Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver starred in the lead roles.

There is so much wildlife in the “Tracks” that the unhurried rhythm of the movement of the sands and the hot wind will make you fall into a trance. Australian landscapes are shown with great love, and sometimes with almost Levitanian picturesqueness. The film crew traveled hundreds of kilometers in search of nature.

The picture tells about “relationships” not only between Robin Davidson and the hospitable Australian continent, but about “nature” in people and “people in nature”. Robin has to kill the human in herself. At the beginning of the film, during the excursion, she – this is emphasized especially – tells that camels were brought to Australia by humans, and now the continent has the largest population of them. Then she will have to kill a wild camel that threatened her life. She travels through the territory where dingoes live, which also appeared and bred thanks to people – as a result, the dog Robin gets fed up with toxic strychnine, and therefore the girl has to kill it with a gun. The film emphasizes that the desert seems to give no chance to survive to what is “too human”.

Mood to the heights of Kilimanjaro

I hope these movies lifted your mood to the heights of Kilimanjaro and you had a lot of fun.

We wish you get inspired after watching these movies.

To be continued…

Written by Olena Chepurna, especially for ArtTravel