Walking Out | SXSW Film Review

Surviving nature’s cruelty has provided numerous gems in the world of cinema, though they are few and far between. An unfortunate cliff note is that, generally speaking, circumstances and conflicts often arise out of man’s brutality towards its fellow man rather than the harsh environments. Deliverance, The Edge, and Alive all succumb to this contrivance eventually. To its benefit, Walking Out keeps its focus clearly on the prize: a father and son’s harrowing attempt to escape the elements following a savage bear attack.

David (Josh Wiggins) is a young city kid, a teenager spending time with his father, Cal (Matt Bomer), deep in the heart of Montana. Backstory is kept at a minimum, but it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to understand this is an estranged relationship at best. With one eye on getting this over with and hurrying home, David sets off with his dad for their annual hunting trip. Cal, on the other hand, is intent on sharing everything he has learned about manhood from the same quality time he had spent with his father (Bill Pullman) many years prior.

After a horrific encounter with a bear, Walking Out morphs into an independent take on The Revenant, only if Leo’s son had lived and there was 93% less wailing. Cal sustains a tragic injury and it is up to his only son to carry him out of the snow-covered wild.

Directors and twin brothers Alex and Andrew Smith adapt David Quammen’s short story into a blistering tale of fathers and sons. As an avid backpacker myself – one who has also taken his son on numerous backcountry adventures for the very same reasons as Cal – I appreciate the simplistic honesty Walking Out provides. In too many films of this type, the details are exceedingly contrived and ludicrous, crushing any semblance of belief I can muster for the predicament characters continually find themselves in.

Instead, Cal and David’s situation is completely plausible, as are the approaches to surviving that they each take. Any issues I do have with the film are solely based on the lack of connection I felt between Wiggins and Bomer. David is a modern teen, dependent on technology, and Cal is filled with an unbridled need for a rustic lifestyle. They are connected yet strangers, and that burgeoning realization they aren’t truly that far apart from one another missed the mark for me entirely. While both actors are delivering solid performances throughout (it was especially refreshing to see Bomer afforded the opportunity to expand beyond pretty-boy roles), it is unfortunate that the desired father-son bond – that spiritual kinship a journey like this should provide – just left me void.

This is a tale of survival, both figuratively and literally, with Todd McMullen’s superb cinematography a highlight as we witness David carrying his father through the uninhabited Montana backcountry. While not quite the journey the film aspires to be, Walking Out bares enough sustenance to justify the trip.