LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE
Excessively Marred by Pagan Elements
What You Need To Know
LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE is based on the true story of 12-year-old Donn Fendler and his unbelievable nine-day survival after being lost on a formidable and unforgiving mountain in Northern Maine in 1939. LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE is a wonderfully inspiring movie about the importance of family, true grit, hope, love, and pressing forward against insurmountable odds, but it has some scary moments, including hallucinations, a lostboy separated from his family, injuries, and general threats of nature and is excessively marred by a mixed pagan worldview where the real Christian aspects of the story are eliminated and replaced by references to a pagan spirit who guards the mountain from climbers, including Indians.
Donn Felder is a rebellious and stubborn 12-year-old boy. Donn’s angry because his father, Donald, informs him that he must leave the family and go on the road again for work. Even worse, the family is forced to cancel an upcoming two-week family fishing trip.
Donn acts out. Like any good father in the Great Depression, Donald wants to prepare his son for the hard knocks of life. However, Donn is still a boy who needs his father’s affection and encouragement. So, in order to make it up to him, Donald takes Donn, his twin brother, Ryan, and their younger brother, Tommy, on a hiking trip up the highest peak in Maine, Mount Katahdin.
The trail guide tells a myth about an Indian mountain bird spirit who traps hikers and leaves them to wander for all eternity. The next day the small group ascends toward the peak. Upon near arrival, a ferocious storm kicks up. Visibility is terrible. Donald warns the group they must turn back, but Donn rebels. He lashes out at his father. Donald acquiesces to Donn and allows Donn and Ryan to continue to the peak with their guide, while he waits at the bottom with Tommy.
Ryan is cold and presses Donn to turn back, but Donn attacks him. The twins start fighting. Harsh words are exchanged. Donn runs off. Unable to find Donn, Ryan and the guide must break the news to Donald. Donald is completely broken. He and his dedicated wife orchestrate the widest search in Maine’s history.
Meanwhile, Donn uses skills taught to him by his dad, to survive the harsh elements of the mountain. Donn follows the stream as he scraps for food and fights off frigid weather and the numerous threats of the 100,000 acres surrounding him.
LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE is an extremely inspirational tale of real life survival. The cinematography is exceptional, which creates a sense of grandeur and manages to evoke various negative and positive emotions. Perfectly cast, the acting is superb.
However, the filmmakers missed the mark on the beliefs of the actual Donn Fendler. Sadly, the creative team decided to go against the truth of the story and create a pagan spirituality to give Donn’s character strength. A pagan religious image was taken from a hallucination, rather than a prayer to the triune Christian God that Donn followed. The scene certainly brings home the importance of the strong arms of a father in a boy’s life. However, Donn and his family were Christian. In fact, many thousands of prayers for Donn’s survival from across the country were sent to his family. Donn himself later asserted in his book that God answered those prayers. Still, the movie is a brilliant tribute to the human spirit and the importance of family. However, to replace the Christian aspects to the story with false pagan religious content is annoying and excessive.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Pagan and somewhat mixed worldview about a true story where a 12-year-old boy in 1939 is lost on a mountain in Maine for nine days, but the movie pretty much eliminates the actual true Christian background to the story to include false religious elements (the guide tells the legend of a pagan bird spirit who patrols the mountain and punishes people trying to climb the mountain by making them wander the mountain for all eternity, plus the lost boy talks to this demigod in one scene and then has an hallucination about the demigod where he extends his feather to wrap around the boy to comfort him and protect him), with some strong moral, light redemptive content stressing love, forgiveness, the importance of family, the will to survive, the power of hope and fortitude, a line in the movie mentions the importance of having “faith in something stronger and bigger than yourself,” and the boy credits love of family for his survival, plus the boy’s mother speaks of prayer, but there are no prayers in the movie, people use the word “miracle,” and people sing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (in reality, the family reportedly received thousands of prayers from people around the country for finding the lost boy, and the boy and his family credited the Christian God and prayer to his survival and rescue)
Foul Language
No foul language
Violence
Jeopardy and peril against terrible weather conditions
Sex
No sex
Nudity
Boy is in his boxer shorts
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
Some smoking tobacco, but no drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Some cruel comments are made to family members, but they’re forgiven.
