The Wild Truth -- Why Chris McCandless went Into the Wild
Carine McCandless, Chris' younger sister (by Billie McCandless), finally reveals the hidden truths behind Chris's motivation and reasoning for leaving his family in his quest for truth. Carine told Outside Magazine, "This is just the truth, the information, the answers to all the 'why' questions that have been lingering about why Chris felt the way he did, why he left the way he did, and what pushed him to the extreme." She lays down the events that molded Chris, and herself, into making the decision to basically divorce their parents and seek out a very different reality than the one they endured under their parents tutelage. She describes a heart-wrenching childhood, replete with unimaginable abuse, cruel manipulation, and a complete fabrication of how this was all presented to the outside world.
In short, Chris and Carine were verbally and psychologically abused and physically beaten by their father (Walt). They were even forced to choose the leather belts from their father's closet used for their whippings -- the length of 'punishment' determined by the amount of alcohol Walt consumed beforehand. Their mother was also beaten and brutalized, and at first was ready to leave (with the kids), but eventually chose to stay in the toxic relationship with its wealthy benefits (she came from a poor upbringing), and become the father's accomplice in extraordinary cruelty. Carine describes how her mother devolved to choose a wealthy lifestyle over the physical and emotional well-being of her children.
The father was clearly a megalomaniac, who basically dominated two separate families simultaneously -- living with each in alternating two week intervals. The polygamous arrangement was flaunted at both women, his wife Marcia, with whom he fathered six children, and Bellie (who pretended to be his wife, though legally not married), with whom he fathered Chris and Carine. As Carine stated, she and Chris were to discover they were officially bastard children. The children's births from each family overlapped, one with Marcia (Shannon #5), then Chris, then another with Marcia (Quinn #6), then Carine. For years the parents lied about the two family situations, but as the kids grew, it could no longer be manipulated.
Chris saw the facade his parents put on to the outside world. They were living the American dream, very upper-middle class in an upscale neighborhood, driving expensive cars, church attending, donating to worthy causes, etc. -- "the show" as labeled by all 8 children. They always threatened the kids if they didn't toe-the-line, they'd lose out on a substantial inheritance. All the children from both families were often beaten, as were the "wives." Chris toed-the-line through college (he graduated with honors), then seeing the reality of his parents American-dream lifestyle, left for good to seek a better truth. Carine also split at her earliest opportunity, opting to marry when she turned 18, in an attempt to flee her toxic parents.
All six kids from Marcia and Carine remain very close and supportive, and all seven tell the same story about the brutality of Walt and Billie McCandless. Marcia eventually was able to divorce Walt (with evidence of a fractured vertebra following one of Walt's attacks), and she and her six kids lived in extremely modest but loving circumstances. They told Carine, she and Chris may have had many more possessions than they did growing up, but they got the better end of the deal.
Read The Wild Truth if you really want an understanding of Chris's motivations and choices. It's documentation is endless (photos, letters, emails) and is supported by countless witnesses, including all seven siblings. To this day Walt and Billie McCandless deny any abuse ever took place, and purport to not understand why all their children from both families make up such stories.
Sean Penn, screenwriter and director of the movie, stated he left most of the parents' toxicity out of Into the Wild because if it was included, the movie would then become about the parents, and take much away from Chris's saga. To honor some of Carine's wishes, he included a few short scenes (backflashes) and Carine's own voice-overs to give hints of what led Chris to leave home to seek a different reality.
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/11/363120048/behind-the-famous-story-a-difficult-truth
Rest in peace, Roger Ebert. You were the best.