Javier’s English Corner

I have just seen a most interesting movie, which has been directed by Sean Penn, and I wanted to share it with you out there. It is called Into The Wild (this website is really cool!), and it is based on a true story about 22-year-old college graduate Christopher McCandless, who walks out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure.

It is a sheer visual pleasure to accompany Christopher on his trip across America until he gets to his final destination, Denali National Park in Alaska. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn about the reasons that compelled Christopher to abandon an affluent life to go in search of true happiness. Does he get it in the end? Sorry, You’ll have to watch the film.

You can now watch the preview below and click here to do an activity about the film’s main song.

Last year, I started to read some novels by Ian McEwan, one of the most prestigious and best-selling authors in the UK at present. I read Saturday first, and when Atonement was made into a successful film I decided it would be my second choice.

To quote from Wikipedia, ‘Time magazine named it the best fiction novel of the year and included it in its All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels, and The Observer cites it as one of the 100 best novels written, calling it “a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction”‘ .

It is a complex novel which is told from different points of view. The main characters are Cecilia Tallis, her sister Briony, and Robbie Turner, whose relationship with Cecilia is tragically ended after he is accused of a sexual crime.

I very much enjoyed both the novel and the film. Now you can watch a short interview with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, who play Cecilia and Robbie in this brilliant blockbuster, or go here to do an activity about it.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a little thingy about a cool musical I had just seen. The movie was Once, and I must confess I have been listening to its score on and off since then.

The first song I chose to share with you was Falling Slowly, a romantic and somewhat sad ballad, so today I have decided to pick When your mind’s made up, to change the pace a bit.

I hope you like it. If you feel like doing an activity about it, go here.