3 Recommended Road Movies for Free Spirits

The idea of ​​being on the road has always intrigued people.  Taking the road both mentally and physically has been a part of my personality.  I wanted to recommend these 3 movies that I was inspired by them, that impressed me a lot and that I saw my own reflection in their lines.  I hope these characters give you the courage to take the road.  Stay on the road!

1. Paris, Texas (1984)

“… He ran, did not turn and look at the fire. He just ran. He ran until the sun rose, until he could not run anymore. He continued running when the sun went down. He ran like this for five days until his entire trail disappeared … ”

Paris, Texas (1984)  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paris_texas

This monologue is not owned by Forrest Gump, but by Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. So, to Travis who is belong to Paris, Texas. The movie begins with a man walking non-stop to get away from himself in the arid lands of America. This man returns to civilization in the following scenes and begins to reconnect with his family. In this life, a tragic love story greets Travis drawn into his former life. In Paris, Texas, a film of burning love, vanished and hitting the road, Travis embarks on a new and long road to find his ex-wife. Travis’ journey will surely touch the fiery sun and the barren lands within you. Personally, the harmony of soundtracks and scenes created this feeling for me.

2. Pierrot le Fou (1965)

If I were to describe Pierrot le Fou, a French made Jean Luc Godard movie, I would say: colors. Besides, according to the director: “This is not really a movie. It is an experiment in cinema. It is an experiment whose essence is life and its adjective is cinemascopic images and colors.” (Jean-Luc Godard)

(Pierrot le fou. (1965). The Criterion Collection.  https://www.criterion.com/films/149-pierrot-le-fou)

Pierrot was tired of his ornate, bourgeois life, and he could no longer endure this socialite order. While searching for a way of salvation, he coincidentally encounters Marianne, with whom he had a short relationship 5 years ago. When he leaves Marianne at her home, they encounter a blood-soaked corpse in her room and soon realize that they are being followed by Algerian gangsters. The journey starts in this stage. The couple, who escaped from Paris and went on a long journey to the shores of the Mediterranean, are eventually caught while they continue their journey by reading poems, singing songs and committing various crimes. Pierrot is deeply disappointed when he finds Mari, who somehow escaped, again. Because when he finds her again, Marianne gave up on Pierrot, she was with another man.

Pierrot Le Fou. (n.d.). [Film]. Pinterest. https://tr.pinterest.com/pin/812407220255967995/

The movie draws in the audience with its improvised scenes and radical leaps. The movie is based on love, death, crisis of masculine subjectivity and misogyny. This movie, which creates a critical, aesthetic-discursive consciousness in the audience with its characters and plot that has a fictionalized reality, will drag you into a romantic drama.

3. Into the Wild (2007)

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, March 20). Into the Wild (film). Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(film)

Next is the story of Christopher McCandless, a character I believe to exist in many free spirits, on his way to the wilderness of Alaska. Written and directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch, Into The Wild is the story of a real life and, moreover, lived to the fullest. After completing the university with a degree, Christopher McCandless donates all the money he has saved and sets out to build a new life full of adventure for himself. For McCandless, who pursues his boundless passions, this journey is the story of a return from a metropolis to wildlife, from pollution to purity and cleanliness. This 20-month journey teaches him the limits of the wilderness, new people he meets, and new places he set foot in. It confronts corrupt society and reflexive modernity behind the walls of modernism. Christopher watches true love and happiness from the frame of the abandoned bus 142. Towards the finale, both the realistic and logical aspects of the production begin to dominate. The heavy burden that McCandless puts on his shoulders in this difficult journey touches our hearts from his eyeballs. His dull eyes in peace greet us with the words: “No matter how happy you are, happiness is only real when shared.”

Sources:

• Ebert, Roger. (2002, December 8). Paris, Texas. RogerEbert.com https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-paris-texas-1984
• Ebert, Roger. (2007, September 27). Off the Road. RogerEbert.com https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/into-the-wild-2007
• Tohum, Burcu Meltem. (2013, August 25). Into the Wild. FILMLOVERSS. https://filmloverss.com/into-the-wild/
• Brody, Richard. (2009, September 22). Pierrot le fou: Self-Portrait in a Shattered Lens. The Critarion Collection. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/525-pierrot-le-fou-self-portrait-in-a-shattered-lens#:~:text=Pierrot%20le%20fou%20was%20the,upon%20him%20as%20its%20reflection.