I think the trick with most movies based off of a true story is to disconnect yourself from the idea that the movie is going to be anything like the real story. For example, I really liked a beautiful mind, but John Nash's actual life story was very different from how the movie portrayed him. They left out certain things, like the fact that he actually divorced his wife, and only got back together with her after he won the nobel prize, or that he even had a child with another woman. Even his schizophrenia was portrayed in a way that was not true to his real life. Anyways, Into the Wild is the same way I'm sure. The fact is the kid was a fool who didn't prepare for what he had ahead of him. But that doesn't make for a very entertaining movie.