In the tradition of “Death of a Salesman,” “The Assassination of Trotsky,” and “The Murders of Penn and Teller,” Lost on a Mountain in Maine arrives with a wry title that serves as fair warning: few surprises await here. On the other hand, there’s absolutely no doubt that things will go well for Don Fender (Luke David Bloom), the novel’s 12-year-old protagonist. In fact, during the opening minutes of this family-friendly real-life drama, the beans aren’t just spilled, they’re thrown as director Andrew Bodhoo Caitlinger and writer Luke Paradise (working from a memoir of the same title co-written by real-life actor Donn Fender) make a pinky promise that… A happy ending is in sight.
But maybe that’s not such a bad thing: If you’re watching “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” with impressionable kids, you won’t have to worry about them being so terrified if they empathize with Don as he struggles to survive. For nine days alone in the frozen wilderness of northern Maine without food, water, and proper equipment. Unless, of course, sometimes they get so caught up in the story that they forget they’ve actually been told how it ends.
As for adult viewers, they may engage during intermittent periods of moderate suspense, and be impressed by Aidan Menen’s stunning cinematography, which greatly enhances the film’s overall impact. It helps that the main characters are well cast across the board, and it helps even more that young Blumm is particularly adept at developing a radical interest in his character.
Which is no small feat, considering how grouchy and borderline Donn appears in early scenes. It’s 1939 in Newport, Maine, and Donald Vendler (Paul Sparks), his demanding father, feels no reason to go easy on his son or any of his other children, as the Great Depression progresses apace. “Everything is going to hell,” he tells his sympathetic wife Ruth (Caitlin Fitzgerald). “The world won’t give him a break. And neither should I.”
Not surprisingly, Don does not respond warmly to his father’s strict approach to parenting. And he’s furious when Donald, whose job keeps him away from home and family for long periods, announces that he’ll have to cancel plans for a two-week fishing trip because – well, work is tempting him, and he can’t risk upsetting him. His boss during the Depression.
From the beginning, you get the impression that Donald rarely (if ever) feels compelled to make amends when he needs to disappoint any of his children. This time, however, he offers to take Don and his two brothers on a short hiking trip near Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, as an apology before he leaves.
This is a big mistake.
Don is so upset that when a quick storm blows in as he, his brothers, his father, and a family friend head up, the young man braves the obvious dangers and keeps going. He is very quickly separated from the group, forced to wander through “100,000 acres of wilderness” and is less tolerant than his father.
As Don makes his way through the treacherous terrain, his family members and volunteer search teams hope for the best but expect the worst, while the boy endures the physical and psychological hardships that could cause the Green Berets to decline. (It’s tempting to assume that Sylvester Stallone signed on as one of the film’s producers, mainly because the premise reminded him of Rambo’s wilderness wanderings.)
The film is peppered with recent interviews with some of the individuals involved in this misadventure, including Don’s twin brother, who admitted that after nine days “we were looking for a body.” Finally, there is an effective collection of archival footage that shows how that adventure ended, and how the reconciliations were affected.
But perhaps what’s most memorable about “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” is the way it raises a provocative question: Would Don have been able to survive his time in the wilderness if his father hadn’t been so stubborn? Early on, Donald warns his son: “Sometimes, you don’t have a choice — finish your fight.” Is it possible that Don takes his father’s words to heart with more enthusiasm than either of them expected?
