Lifetime, TF1 International, Nomadic Pictures

Jami Gertz, Dylan Walsh, Aaron Pearl, Julia Maxxwell, Brooklynn Proulx, Alex Arsenalt, Judith Buchan, Joe Norman Show

Based on true events, but not a true story, this is a story of endurance.  In Idaho in the mountains, a husband and wife are separated and with 3 kids, Christmas is not easy.  But they decide to make the best of the situation and take a snowmobile trip before the holidays.   They end up lost and unable to find their way.   They decide the best way to go is down to the creek, but this doesn’t work.  So they build a shelter and stay overnight.  Then they start back up to where they started to a ridge, but end up in the wrong area completely.  All in all they spend night after night out in below zero temperatures.  Meanwhile the whole town turns out to find them, but a sudden storm hides all the tracks and they are unable to find them.  Finally grandma decides to call off the search because it’s just too risky with all the snow and dangers of avalanche.

There are some issues with this film, but I think they tried to do their best with it.   The kids are very impressive and do a great job.  The two adults (Jami Gertz and Dylan Walsh) are more like children than the children.  They keep arguing and attacking each other all throughout the film.  You’d think they’d be more interested in getting out of there, but they would rather take pot shots at each other.   The facts of the actual story are tweaked and changed to make it a holiday story of sorts, but the real story is not about the holidays, but survival in the icy weather.  The purpose was to make this a Christmas story and that part is pretty weak anyway.  But the adventure and the suspense is good, and the movie was shot on site in Idaho so the scenery is beautiful.

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Rating: 2.0/5 (1 vote cast)
** Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story (2007), 2.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

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