I saw the poster and read a short article in a movie magazine and knew I wanted to see this movie. I really really like Sean Penn, although I haven't seen that much of his work. But I still thought this would be a wonderful movie. A few days later I read an interview and the first question gave away a huge spoiler about the end of the story, which really annoyed me. Not the end, but the spoiler. But I guess, as it's a true story, the end was common knowledge and I was the only one left in the dark. I still wanted to see the movie and in retrospective it might even been good, that I knew how it was going to end, so I wasn't too shocked about it.
I really liked the movie, it was beauftifully shot and absolutely captivating. Maybe the most fascinating thing was that one person could be so true to his believes and act on it, no matter how much he has to go through because of that. It's a way of living and a state of mind I just can't relate to. I'm already struggeling with giving up chocolate for Lent :-) but he just leaves everything and everyone behind. In some way this absolute conviction of this way of life is admirable. And the movie managed to be truely interested in this guy and his journey, no matter how weird and sometimes even irrational he's acting. Wonderful movie.