Alone (2015) is a survival competition show that drops off 10 contestants in remote locations, tasked with living off the land for as long as possible, before either tapping out or being pulled for safety protocols. The series' Season 9 premiered on the History channel in May 2022, while Season 8 dropped on Netflix, charting on the platform's Top Ten in July 2022.
Literally alone, the contestants document themselves attempting to survive the wilderness, build a shelter, establish systems of gathering and/or hunting food. All contestants bring their own expertise to wildlife survival, but all share a profound love for the outdoors. While some movies showcase normal civilians surviving the wild, others choose to live in the great outdoors. The experience doesn't always bode well, but can serve as forms of catharsis or rites of passage, and display the strength and fortitude of the human spirit.
Into The Wild (2007)
Based on the real life events of Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, stars Emile Hirsch as McCandless, a disenchanted College graduate who opts to take an extended stay in the wild. Unexperienced and unprepared McCandless abandons his car, cuts up his ID and credit cards and begins his spiritual journey to the Alaskan wilderness.
Once there, the ambitious traveler finds an abandoned bus, the iconic Magic Bus, the imagery that is synonymous this fateful true story. The hardships of living in the wild never relent, but in isolation McCandless notes the profound gratification of living off the land, free of the spoils and distractions of modern life and expectations.
The Kings of Summer (2013)
The Kings of Summer is a comedic coming of age tale that sees three friends (Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso and Moisés Arias) traveling into their not-so-isolated woods to build a cabin and live free of the responsibilities of adulthood. Also starring Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally as the different boys parents, the town reports the kids missing while they frolic in the river and trees and their fantasies of living in the forest.
The three friends seem to have a blast creating a cabin reminiscent of a children's backyard fort, and the comedy continues when the naive boys find it not so easy to find food, resorting to sneaking over to the grocery store to snag some rotisserie chickens. The film is a fun adventure of rebellious boys avoiding the pressures of their parents and growing up, but like many coming of age tales it has its own series of lessons as the boys come to grips with reality.
Cast Away (2000)
One of the most iconic survival movies to date is Cast Away starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx postal service executive, Chuck Noland, who becomes stranded on an isolated island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific Ocean. Unlike the many land-survival tales that see the characters attempting the long trek back to civilization, Chuck is trapped on an island and forced to take on the very real stakes of game show, Alone, camp out and survive as long as possible.
Cast Away is a compelling tale of human resilience as a common civilian is faced with deathly stakes of attempting to make fire, shelter, find food, and handle first aid emergencies with little to no gear at all. With no human interaction, Chuck creates Wilson, a scavenged volleyball who becomes his closest friend. Audiences never thought they'd cry so hard over losing a ball.
Prey (2022)
While Prey isn't a wildlife survival movie in the traditional sense it follows a young Comanche tracker (Amber Midthunder) who showcases many wilderness survival techniques to outsmart the deadly Predator. Set in the North Great Plains of the Americas in 1719, the film follows members of a Native American tribe living and hunting off the land. The film is the fifth installment of the Predator series, but set before the timeline of the original Predator (1987).
We are first introduced to Midthunder's Naru as a skilled tracker and gatherer, informed in ways of herbal medicine, but longs to challenge gender norms to prove herself as a hunter. Going back to the basics of hunter vs hunter that made the Predator franchise so enticing, the film sees Naru using her knowledge of the wilderness, while also adapting to her environment in order to outsmart the alien trophy hunter.
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Captain Fantastic stars Viggo Mortensen as an unorthodox father, Ben, who has raised his six children isolated in the woods. Sadly, Ben must inform his children that their mother has passed away while being hospitalized for mental health troubles. He then packs up his children to travel to her traditional funeral, while trying to hold tight to his alternative forms of parenting.
The film dabbles with many social and political arguments as Ben is disillusioned with capitalistic ideals and modern ways of living. The children are all adept at wildlife survival, yes, but also very well-educated as Ben attempts to prove his success in avoiding social norms that he finds damaging. Through a cathartic adventure the family finds a middle ground between the wild and honest living, while holding on to their honorable ideals.
The Martian (2015)
You may find that the sentiment of Alone is very strong in this sci-fi survival tale, stranded in an environment and forced to scrounge to survive, much like Cast Away. The Martian follows the astronaut and botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) whose mission goes haywire and becomes stranded on Mars, while NASA looks for a way to bring him home.
Providing food is the most vital component of attempting to survive in isolation. In Alone the contestants must use many ways to find food, whether its hunting, fishing or trapping game or gathering plants or fungi, however there is no guarantee they'll be successful. In The Martian, Watney understandably cannot hunt on the barren Mars landscape, but instead uses his expertise in botany to farm and grow his own food.
Tracks (2013)
There aren't many climates as unforgiving as the desert. The film Tracks stars Mia Wasikowska as the real Robyn Davidson, who trekked 1,700 miles alone across the Australian desert in 1977. The film sees Robyn on a perilous journey, against all warnings from friends and family, to travel west across the desert with three camels and her dog, Diggity.
Facing extreme heat, little food, many predators, and the constant threat of dehydration, the film also stars Adam Driver as National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan, who attempted to periodically drop in water for the exhausted Robyn. The film certainly depicts the perseverance of the human spirit as she willingly faced all odds to prove others wrong.
Lord of the Flies (1990)
Lord of the Flies (1990) is a cautionary coming of age tale as a group of young boys attempt to survive on a stranded island. The film is based on the 1954 book of the same name by William Golding and serves as a weary tale about civilization, as the group of military cadet boys fail miserably at governing their own society.
Far from the literal premise of Alone (2015), Lord of the Flies (1990) follows up to 24 boys, and the many varying personalities vying for power may prove far more difficult than just one lone survivor. After establishing their modes of survival, like shelter and hunting, the group attempt to formulate a hierarchy and inevitably regress into more primitive forms of social structure, having to survive themselves, much less the wild.
Leave No Trace (2018)
Leave No Trace is a compelling tale of a father and daughter who ironically feel more stranded in civilization that in the wild. Starring Ben Foster as Will, a veteran struggling with PTSD, and his daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) the film begins with the two living off the grid in the wilderness before they are arrested for trespassing on public land and forced to assimilate back into society.
Based on a true story which sees the father criticized for not providing their child with the standard forms of upbringing and education. Despite Tom's advanced reading level for her age and how she defends her father's parenting, the small family are faced with finding a middle ground between the fulfilling life they had in nature and the social support modern civilization can bring.
Wild (2014)
Wild is based on a true story of Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) who, with no prior experience, attempts to hike the Pacific Crest Trail as a way to battle grief and rediscover herself. The Pacific Crest Trail is a high range series of connecting trails that run North-South along the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, a 2,653-mile journey from the California border of Mexico to Canada. Even experienced hikers will find this journey to be incredibly daunting.
Fitted with her boots, map and oversized pack, with more than she'll ever need on the journey, Cheryl attempts to do what so many others also try to achieve in the wilderness; find themselves. Learning and adapting along the way Cheryl faces trials and tribulations, all that push her will and force her to confront her demons and face herself while alone in the wild.