A Truly Emotional and Powerful Piece of Cinema

The Shack
dir. Stuart Hazeldine

   God, Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit invite a man to a shack......that sentence sounds like the setup to a potentially offensive joke or an otherwise oversaturated drama but instead, "The Shack" is a truly emotional and powerful piece of cinema that walks its fine line between being over-sentimental and underwhelming perfectly by providing enough drama and emotion for both religious and non-religious audiences.
   The core of the movie is how one deals with the loss of a loved one and how that can affect not only ourselves but also those we are connected to. Mackenzie (played by Sam Worthington) is struggling with the abduction and murder of his youngest daughter, Missy. His depression is not only made him reclusive and drone-like but he is also unable to connect with his other two children and wife and helping them cope and move on from this tragedy. He receives a mysterious note from "Papa" (Mackenzie's wife's term for God) inviting him to the shack where Missy was taken from this world. Mackenzie goes and from there he goes on a deep personal journey where the holy trinity teaches him how to cope and release the "great sadness" that is sending him into despair.
    A film with this emotional and deep questions and thoughts could have easily been a 2-hour schmaltzy tele-movie but instead the director and writers truly craft the idea of a man meeting with the holy trinity with the same flair and awe effects that could be found in a big budget blockbuster but still keeping it grounded in its meaningful and deeply rooted concepts and ideas of letting go and forgiveness. The supporting cast give excellent portrayals that don't overstep or over-intellectualize whom they're playing especially Octavia Spencer and Avraham Aviv Alush who help to truly shape and showcase their embodiment of God and Jesus Christ. Tim McGraw and Radha Mitchell bring their A-game to the material without phoning it in or over-trying.
      Another wonderful aspect about "The Shack" is its ability to make you laugh, cry, think and feel as if you knew (or even were) Mackenzie and his family as your own. Some may see it as emotional manipulation to play and explore such ideas as God, The Holy Trinity and Faith-based experiences but what is film if not to explore the whole spectrum of the human condition through stories like these. I laughed, I cried (more than I ever have cried in a multiplex), It made me think and feel and that is the goal of a true piece of filmmaking. If it doesn't make you emotionally invested (whatever the material), its no better than a piece of cheap gum that is just there to keep your jaw moving. I personally find faith-based cinema to be hit or miss, either it can inspire and reach to both sides of the coin like "Miracles From Heaven" or "Noah" or it ends up being a cheaply made excuse to use your local multiplex as a political platform to spew outdated (and borderline hateful) ideas about Christianity and Non-Believers like "God's Not Dead" and its sequel.

If you're religious or like faith oriented cinema, go see "The Shack"
If you're not religious or find films like these to be "exploitative" and "preachy",
go see "The Shack" anyway.

It's a film that helps us understand and connect with our own feelings and perception of not just God and Religion, but of what it means to feel, to lose loved ones, to reconnect with that which makes us whole and to let go of what bogs us down. "The Shack" is that movie that helps a moviegoer to relax and know that everything is going to be okay which makes it a rewarding experience, no matter what your background or beliefs are.

5/5 Reels