Four reasons to decide to see ‘The Shack’

By: David Waterman

This month’s movie focus is on The Shack. There are limited spoilers contained and even though this movie wasn’t one that I would see again, you can decide for yourself.

Poster to use — Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer play Mack Phillips and ‘Papa’ respectively. *The Shack* chronicled Mack’s journey to forgiveness and released to theatres on March 3. Image courtesy of The Shack.

Reason 1: The Shack deals with mature subjects of faith and grief. The main character is Mack, who between issues of his father beating him and leaving him for dead, and his daughter being abducted and likely killed, has a lot of baggage to deal with. This movie still has the PG-13 rating, so even though it delves into these heavy topics, it is still viewable by high school students.

Reason 2: Even though this movie attempts to be deep, it fails heavily in this department. It is quite amusing to hear the common sense statements about faith and grief that appear throughout the movie. A highlight from Octavia Spencer playing the Father is, “you got stuck there.” This simply comes across as overconfident and arrogant.

Reason 3: The interpretations of the Holy Trinity surrounded the original book in controversy. The movie recreates this in creating visual representations of the Holy Trinity, and in how it stresses their human but not their divine qualities. Simply to be able to understand what this controversy is about is well worth it.

Reason 4: This movie in the end is about redemption, and it is the story of bitterness and grief to acceptance and closeness. This segment of the movie starts off wonderfully, but leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to answering questions. Why does Mack not ask for forgiveness from his father for fighting back and beating him severely? How was Mack estranged from his family, other than one instance? The questions go on and on without ever being concretely tied up.

Verdict: The Shack will be relying on its fan base from the book as a result of poor writing and incomplete themes. While charming in some areas, this movie falls short when it comes complex and thoughtful dialogue.