Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story

*** DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS. ***

"Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story" (2007) is a made-for-TV movie based upon an actual event. Interestingly, just after the original airing of "Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story" on the LIFETIME cable channel, American TV newscasts were following a new family lost for many days in a big snow storm in the northern California mountains.

Any half-serious TV couch potato will want to know one thing about this 2007 LIFETIME production: how does it compare with the 1994 made-for-TV movie "Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story." Both LOST HOLIDAY and SNOWBOUND have pluses and minuses.

On the PLUS side for SNOWBOUND, after being lost, the husband and wife had natural and normal conversations centered around their survival.

Sad to say, the script is the biggest MINUS for LOST HOLIDAY. 3, 4, and 5 days out lost deep in the woods without shelter, the Shemwell's are talking 1000 words per minute about check books, trading cars, and high school proms or whatever. One pointless babble-fest took place while their snowmobile was running in neutral until its motor overheated and the snowmobile died. The Shemwell's endless babbling was off-topic and took away from the drama.

One other PLUS for SHOWBOUND was the family members waiting back home. They were more easy to accept and true-to-life.

Sorry to say, the matriarch of the Shemwell family was alarmingly over-confident right up until the exact instant when she gave up all hope. It was more weird than natural.

On the PLUS side for LOST HOLIDAY, the way the Shemwell's were lost was realistic -- they were lost snowmobiling deep in the woods.

SNOWBOUND was weakened because the Stolpa's were immensely stupid to leave the shelter and more traveled location of their snowbound car to walk off into the woods. It was easy for searchers to find their car, but less easy to find them.

That all being said, one thing LOST HOLIDAY had over SNOWBOUND (and every other cold weather movie) was the ultra sporty winter jackets worn by the Shamwell clan. I have never in my life seen such sporty winter jackets. I enjoyed the wardrobe in "Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story."

By the way, if you feel confused because the Stolpa's and the Shemwells seem similar to each other as do the titles "Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story" and "Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story" -- you are completely correct!

This could be called a big budget I Shouldn't Be Alive episode in some regards except I actually prefer the main focus on the plight of the victims. But from a perspective as a Christian, I enjoyed the emphasis on prayer and faith, which naturally found it necessary to show the many family dynamics. We see the mom who is too organized, the dad who is a big irresponsible teenager, and the teen boyfriend who is unfairly disliked... This all wraps up into a warm feel-good ending. However, I would not have rekindled a relationship w/a man who is so arrogant and controlling as to have almost cost me my life. This film makes a huge point to try and show he's completely out of control and extremely manipulating. Since it's a real story, I won't blame the writers.

And on a side note, the 'where did they go to survival school' review here is not completely accurate - - You never go down into an unknown mountainous valley in a snow-bound venue or any unfamiliar venue audibly hearing a strong river or visually seeing how to get back up. You can become trapped and many people have died this way. Going down is easy; coming up, not so much. The main thing this couple did wrong was to not get out in a clearing and build a big fire as soon as the weather cleared. I would have dug a shelter and stayed put near a clearing with some form of communication -- branches spelling SOS is a common thing rescuers would look for. You definitely can die if you accidentally fall asleep in the snow. No one is suggesting you can't go to sleep in snow if you've built a fire and have prepared for it. What can happen is that as you get weaker and your body prepares to die it can simply make you fall asleep to make the process simple and painless. You do have to be very aware of this if you're at that stage.

I love the ocean but I would rather get lost in the snow since I would have a better chance of survival in snow than in open water. (just thinking out loud).