I want to start off by saying that I haven't read the book, which I now regret because the movie was excellent. Prepare yourself for waterworks. "The Shack" broke my heart into a million, tiny pieces. At one point, I even felt sick to my stomach and didn't want to watch. However, if you can tough it out through the terrible, you will be rewarded.
While I can be a sucker for the sad ones, a lot of people don't like sad movies. If you're one of those people, don't give up on "The Shack" quite yet. It will make you sad, but it will also build you back up. It will make you feel okay about all the sadness that's going on.
For example, if you have ever questioned why or how God allows bad things to happen to good people, this movie helps to answer it. It helps to answer quite a bit about God and faith in general. The movie looks at an average man with a good relationship to God, whose beliefs are called into question after a horrific tragedy in his life. I'm talking the worst of the worst. He struggles to understand why and to make sense of the entire situation as far as God's role. Here are some of the questions that I felt like the movie addressed:
Why does God let evil happen?
How can God forgive evil people?
What form does God take?
How does the Holy Trinity work?
What happens to those who pass on?
Do we see our loved ones?
How can we find our faith again when we are lost?
Those a just a few examples of the questions that this movie attempts to interpret. I am not a religion buff. I never went to Sunday school and admittedly, I don't know too much about religion. I do have a relationship with God, however. Throughout this relationship, I've always had questions, but the language that surrounds the concept of religion has always made it difficult for me to understand.
Through "The Shack," I found some of that understanding. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to argue that the film is more religiously accurate than other sources or that it should be used as some form of replacement. I'm simply saying that in my experience with the film, I felt close to my idea of God.
Bravo to the author of the novel and the makers of the film because it had to be tough tackling the hard topics of religion. I loved the interpretation. It resonated with me and it honestly made my faith even stronger. It has actually been one of my favorite interpretations of faith to this day.
I felt like my visions of God and Jesus were brought to life by this movie. There's even humor in the characters who take on the roles of the Holy Trinity (Jesus was my favorite interpretation).
In summation, go watch "The Shack." I truly believe that it's worth your time, but bring some tissues
