This review will be relatively long winded, but I have personal connections to this movie and the book it was inspired by. I was born and raised in Maine, just a couple hours north from where this took place. The first thought I have are that Sylvester Stallone has even more of my respect for producing this movie. My second thought is the sadness that Donn never lived long enough to finally see his story on the big screen. This movie was a long time coming!
When I was very young in school, probably around 1992, and about 6-7 years old, we read this book in school. I've read hundreds of books when I was younger, but this one was special, because it was real, and it was in our own backyard.
After we read it, our entire school went to the auditorium and Donn Fendler himself told us his story. It was even better in person. There are several things that happened that are not in the book, and not in the movie, perhaps things that were more personal to him, or things that readers would be skeptical of.
From my home town, on a clear day, we can see the peak from 120 miles away in a few areas of high elevation, especially in the spring when the white snow on the top contrasts with the surrounding green forests,
The mountain is not the tallest in the country by any means, but when you see it from 120 miles away, and you look at the MASSIVE amount of thick, pristine wilderness that surrounds Katahdin, surrounded by smaller mountains, lakes, rivers, and massive trees that run as far as you can see to the north and the south, you get a sense of how insignificant you are.
The thought of being lost on that peak as a grown adult with survival skills and being extremely familiar with this area is intimidating. Even though I am healthy and experienced, there are many things in these forests that can take the life of even the most experienced Mainer. The way this movie captures that sense of danger is perfect. From a person that has hiked the regions of the northwest, Alaska, and even the White Mountains nearby, Katahdin looks small and tame. However, that mountain will break you down, and the forests that surround will swallow you whole, and you will never be seen again. A 12 year old boy, with no experience, no survival gear and no training WILL NOT survive even one night under these conditions. If you recall, the first night on the summit, the temperature was BELOW freezing. He was soaking wet from the storm, then the temperature dropped into the high 20's. He didn't even have a jacket, nor could he make a fire for warmth. He did not even have food to even give his body a chance to survive. Yet, he survived. And yes, this is 100% real. This is a true event.
These are some of the thickest, oldest forests in the world. The Appalachians are the oldest mountain ranges on Earth. Millions of years have ground the peaks down, and they are now covered in extremely dense forests. Some areas barely see sunlight, even in the summer.
There are tales of strange creatures, mysterious disappearances, and other phenomena that bend the mind. The natives were here long before us, and the majority of the state is named by the natives. The names of counties, rivers, lakes, towns, and mountains are all directly from the natives.
The creature in this movie that visited Donn is not some illusion. It's not a fairy tale to make the story entertaining. It didn't only appear to him one evening and disappear.
It spoke to him, it showed him where to walk, and what to eat. It protected him from wild animals, including several large black bears, of which one was a mother protecting her cubs.
I commend the producers for putting this in the movie. For people that know the story, we know that this story is full of unbelievable paranormal and inexplicable facts, and we see these mysterious elements woven into this movie in a way that the casual viewer will not quite catch. It does not give skeptics the ammunition to scoff at and talk bad about it, but, it also carries the truth just below the surface.
In conclusion, I've been waiting 30+ years for this movie to finally get made. It's crazy that it took this long, and it's very sad that Donn was never able to live quite long enough to finally be able to see his story on the big screen. But, at least knowing that the legendary Sylvester Stallone had taken this project on personally, I am certain that Donn would have been at peace when he left us.
Rest in Peace Donn Fendler!
