The Shack 2017

     This film is based on a 2007 novel by Canadian author William Paul Young.  Mack Phillips takes his son and two daughters camping.  They are having a good time until Josh and Kate have a problem with the canoe.  Josh is trapped underneath the canoe and Mack quickly swims out to pull him out of the water.  When they get back to camp, the youngest daughter Missy is not at the picnic table where Mack left her.  Mack and a fellow camper begin to search the area and they call the police.  They learn that a man has been kidnapping children and Missy may be dead.  This is an extreme blow to the family and all of them have trouble accepting any part of this event!!  Later, Mack receives a letter in his mailbox asking him to return to a shack near the camping area.

     There is a LOT that I didn’t understand fully about this film??  There is a way of thinking at the shack and you will need to buy into in order to believe anything said or going on??  There is a fan base for this film that is already established from the sales of the novel.  Ratings for the book on Amazon are 4.7* out of 5* with 15,423 reviews.  I haven’t read the novel so I may not have the inside information for a better interpretation of this film.  Plus, I don’t want to give away too many facts about what happens at the shack!! 2* (I didn’t like this movie)

132 min, Drama directed by Stuart Hazeldine with Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Tim McGraw, Radha Mitchell, Megan Charpentier, Gage Munroe, Amelie Eve, Avraham Aviv Alush, Sumire Matsubara, Alice Braga, Graham Greene, Ryan Robbins.

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10, 21% critic 78% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Amazon 4.6 out of 5 with 1612 reviews, The Guardian 1* review by Wendy Ide, Plugged In 4* out of 5* review by Bob Waliszewski.

Special Note:  Filmed in Cultus Lake Provincial Park, Stawamus Chief Park, British Columbia, Canada.  William Paul Young was working three jobs and living in a 900 square foot apartment with is wife and four of his six children when he wrote this novel.  They had lost their home to bankruptcy and he wrote the novel during his train commute of 40-minutes.  It was a gift to his children because he couldn’t afford holiday gifts.  The book has sold over 20 million copies.  Originally, Forest Whitaker was to direct but he dropped out.  Worthington and Mitchell also worked together in Rogue of 2007.