Le Chemin du pardon

"The Shack" is a beautiful, profound, and moving film. I'm a lifelong movie fan and I always look at reviews before I go to see movies. Of course I went to Rotten Tomatoes and saw that "The Shack" had received uniformly bad reviews. There is something wrong with the critics who panned this movie. They probably have a problem with Christianity. I think if a similar film had been made in Iran, about Islam, with English subtitles, it would receive an Academy Award nomination. Don't let these bitter, twisted souls keep you from seeing "The Shack."

The plot is simple. Mack, (Sam Worthington), an American husband and father, suffers an unbearable loss. He and other family members sink into depression. One day, Mack receives an invitation to return to the shack, the site of the worst moment of Mack's life. He does return, and there he meets spiritual guides played by Octavia Spencer, Aviv Alush, Sumire Matsubara, Graham Greene, and Alice Braga (niece of Sonya Braga). Mack engages in conversation with these spiritual entities. He eventually returns to normal life with a changed outlook.

The film gets off to a rocky start. There is an unnecessary and amateurish voice-over narration by country music star Tim McGraw, who stars as Mack's friend. Otherwise, though, McGraw is excellent on screen, displaying an understated charisma and authenticity that are totally beyond the film's actual star, Sam Worthington. In fact I wish Tim McGraw had played Mack and Sam Worthington had played the best friend.

Too, there are many shifts in time in the opening scenes. There are flashbacks on top of flashbacks and a shocking crime that the movie never makes much use of. Once the movie gets started, about fifteen minutes in, it gets good.

Sam Worthington is okay as Mack. The thing is, his Australian accent is evident in virtually every word he speaks. Again, I wish the filmmakers had made McGraw the star.

Radha Mitchell is good looking but chilly as Mack's wife. She looks like a movie star, not like a wife, and that took away from the film for me.

The rest of the cast is excellent. Octavia Spencer is assigned to play an almost impossible part, and she handles it with great professionalism and depth. Aviv Alush is especially good. Moviegoers have waited a long time for a star like this to play this part, and he knocks it out of the park.

The production values are high. The scenery is lush. I was especially moved by how this family-friendly film handles the tragedy at the center of Mack's depression and alienation from God. The exact words are never used. Graphic images are never shown. Yet we know exactly what happened, and it breaks our hearts and causes us to ask the same questions that Mack asks.

Either you want to see a movie where an average man works out how to deal with unbearable tragedy or you don't. Me, I loved sitting there watching Mack wrestle with his pain and his faith. Many self- identified Christians hate this movie with a white hot hatred. Big name Christian leaders have denounced it as heretical. One man told me that seeing the movie would be the equivalent of shooting heroin.

It think these folks are wearing their shorts much too tight. The film is an allegory. Any thinking person who has been through pain has had the same questions as Mack, and anyone who has read the Bible or other spiritual literature has pondered the same potential answers. I sincerely doubt that any film-goer is going to leave the theater thinking that he or she has actually seen God on screen, or heard God's thoughts about human tragedy. Rather, like any good allegory, the film sets us on our own path of spiritual exploration. That's a very good thing.

This film tells the story of a man who loses his young daughter during a camping trip. He grieves for the loss of his daughter, and his process is eased by a trip to the heavenly shack.

Grief is a difficult process to deal with, especially after such a traumatic experience. The heavenly intervention is a beautiful process. The process of healing is universal, and it's beautifully portrayed in this film. Through various reflections and exercises, the beauty of life, forgiveness and the need to move on are conveyed.

It drove me to tears many times because it is very touching. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I never thought I will appreciate movie genres like this.Lately I have been watching sci-fi, suspense and romance themed movies. At first I have no plan of watching this movie, but my attention was caught when a friend of mine told me what was this all about. I must say, the movie was "divinely crafted". This was the first movie that really punched my ego and played my emotions. Some parts of the movie can rip your soul and enlighten you about the divinity of God, the nature of life, the circumstances that we do not understand. The story was beautifully and intricately written, absolutely.

If you watch the movie, you will really feel that God was there, in front of you, talking to you, loving you, giving you ideas that encompass human comprehension.

"Why does it have to happen?, why do we have to suffer?, If God does exist, why wont he show then?", these are questions common to us, surely you have asked these questions yourself.

If you are that person who questions the incomprehensible course of fate, circumstance and life, this movie is for you.

I did not consider this to be a Christian movie even though it appears that way. It is more of a spiritual film that explores a theme that is relevant to the whole of humanity and that is forgiveness. This is a content based film rather than one based on procedural expertise or artistry. Its power is in its message rather than the level of technical accomplishment, script or acting and with regard to this, I found it hit the spot very well.

Many people are extremely uncomfortable with movies that are spiritually centred especially those that are not historical or reportage based. This one deals directly with questions that affect us all; those of being able to put negatively perceived, traumatic experiences behind us and really move on. Films of such potent and pointed content can be threatening even to the most intelligent viewers because intelligence has nothing to do with the heart and it is a trend in our present society to belittle the spiritual heart in favour of more 'rational' thinking. So when a movie comes along with a relatively simple message, our suspicious minds can see it as manipulative.

This is one of the reasons this film has received so many negative reviews; namely because so many people cannot handle their own inner issues and so when confronted with films like this, they become angry and direct their anger at the film, using religion as an excuse to dismiss their message: it's largely an anti-spiritual thing and ironically defies logic.

It's a pity that so many people relate spiritual films like this one to their own personal, often negative experiences with Ministers and church when even Jesus said – in this film – "I'm not exactly what you call a Christian, am I?"

This movie had a profound effect on me and I woke up the next day suddenly needing to do a life review of all the people I had to forgive. After I did it, I felt a weight I had been carrying for years had been lifted.

That's the power of a spiritual film.

I am not a regular church goer, nor did I have high expectations for this film at all, and I do not cry in films, but this movie made me ball. Most Christian films fall flat and can be subjective, but this was different. I knew people who were fans of the book and highly anticipated the film, but seeing it is not a movie, it is an experience not to be missed. The values of forgiveness and true faith are challenged and as the viewer it was overwhelming. Better than any of the Oscar nominations this year.