‘The Shack’: Novel about family loss and faith now a movie | Lifestyle.INQ

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Scene from "The Shack"
Scene from "The Shack"
Scene from “The Shack”

After suffering a family tragedy that cost that life of his daughter, a grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called “The Shack.”

Directed by Stuart Hazeldine, “The Shack” takes us on a father’s transformative and spiritual journey that will show him the ultimate truth about love, loss and forgiveness. The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same title by author William P. Young.

Family man Mackenzie Phillips (Sam Worthington) seems to have a good life: Three great children, a beautiful wife Nan (Radha Mitchell) and a lovely home. But when Mack takes the kids for an overnight camping trip, what starts out as a enjoyable getaway soon turns into a parent’s most horrifying nightmare. His youngest daughter is abducted from their campsite and her body is never recovered.

Mackenzie spirals into a deep depression causing him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness to meet with God. Despite his doubts, he accepts the invitation. In this shack, he meets God in the person of a woman (Octavia Spencer), from who he learns important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever.

Safe space

The novel debuted and stayed at the top of the New York Times Bestsellers for over 70 weeks, with over 22 million copies sold.

Book author Young explains the metaphor “the shack” and why it has such a suffocating and devastating hold over Mack.

“The shack is the place of devastation on the inside, it’s the house that we all build when some of us didn’t get good help,” says Young. “It’s the place we store all of our addictions and hide our secrets, and we don’t ever want anybody in there because we’re terrified they will hate us as much as we already do. In order to heal, you’ve got to go back to the places where you were broken—you can’t go around it, you can’t ignore it.”

For Spencer, the themes in the book and script resonated deeply with her on a very personal level.

“I have experienced loss in my life, but the things that bring you back is your faith. So, I understood Mackenzie’s journey in a lot ways,” Spencer said. “It’s only when he walks back and asks those questions to God and confronts all the issues he has that he’s able to find redemption and fill that hole that loss has created within him.” —CONTRIBUTED

“The Shack” opens March 1 in cinemas nationwide.

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