realfandangoforever I'm going to keep it short but long enough to post. If you are not religious, this film is claptrap, but quaint?

dansuemi I don't usually watch American movies, or any religious movies, but I have to say this movie worth watching. I don't even know who is Sam Worthington, but he really has the acting chops that made me cry just by looking at his eyes, at the beginning of this movie, when there was nothing happening yet. I love this movie so much, it's full of love and forgiveness, that the life I want to live. So I cried a lot during the movie. The fact that the reality would never go in that way made me upset. I'm not a Christian or any others. But when I reflect on my family, take it personally, with all of the hatred my mother is living in I cried. Especially when Philips met his dead daughter Missy and his blind father he killed I cried the most, it was too beautiful. The family love was proved to play a prominent part in everybody's life. And I have to say that the acting skills of the actors and actresses make the movie easy to believe and understand. Otherwise the movie would be a mess of cliché. Everything was appropriate. So I give it 10.

klowe-52135 Whilst I completely understand some people's views and opinions that this film is bland and a mere 'promotion of Christianity' - I have to say that I thought the way it raises real life struggles and questions and then tries to give reasoning behind it is so refreshing. As a Christian who struggles every day with challenging God as to why there's suffering and pain in the world - I think this film, and of course the book too, brings hope and guidance with these issues. Yes okay, it is still a film, and it has to 'appeal to the masses' with its beautiful cinematography and scenery and characters (which it has in absolute abundance and certainly makes it an easy watch!!) - but underlying all of this is beauty is a raw subject matter that will get you thinking about God, the trinity and your relationship with them. I'm by no means a 'mega Christian'(!!) and I can understand why some people would watch this film and not completely get what they're trying to portray, but for me it really helped understand a little more about how and why. I'd highly recommend it - but keep an open mind, it is a little 'out there'!!

grantss Mack Phillips is happily married with three children. When a family tragedy shatters their carefree existence, Mack becomes bitter and depressed and the family starts to drift apart. Out of the blue he receives an invitation to return to where the tragedy took place, a deserted cabin known simply as The Shack. Thing is - the invitation is from God...Well-intended but clumsy and long-winded. The aim was to portray the Christian message in a relatable way, especially how it pertains to tragedy and grief. However, it takes forever to get there, and does so in a folksy, licence-taking, sermonising sort of way.Part of the problem is that the producers hedged their bets in terms of who their target audience was, trying to make it for Christian and non-Christian audiences alike and thus diluting the effect on both parties. Christians will probably find the movie overly simplistic and dumbed-down, and even inaccurate in some respects. Non-Christians, and movie-goers in general, will be put off by the overly long set-up before the important stuff, and then then how that is also drawn out. In addition, the message delivery is not too subtle, so the feeling that you're being lectured to may be off-putting to some too.It's not all bad though. There are some good messages along the way and the end ties things together reasonably well. That would require watchers to make it to the end though...