The film is the true story of 12 year old Donn Fendler who got separated from his family while they were hiking on a mountain and the a storm moved in. The film charts the course of the next nine days as nDon tries to find his way home and his family, along with an army of searchers, tried to find him.
Sadly LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE is going to get lost in the shuffle and it’s a major loss. This film is the sort of thing that back in the days before home video, say the mid 1970's, would have been a major it and played for weeks in theaters near you.
This is great filmmaking. What makes the film work is the inclusion of select interviews with some of the people involved. Filling in details that are not in the story (for example sneakers are not good for being lost in the wilderness since they tend to disintegrate rapidly) the film gets a weight it might not have. Make no mistake this is not a typical TV docu-drama but something else entirely. It’s closer to what Warren Beaty did with REDS rather than the History Channel.
To be certain you know going in that Donn comes out the other other end, but the enormity of what he went through and his ability to actually survive keeps us riveted. It’s a stunning achievement and highly recommended.
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