MOVIE REVIEW : Grace Under Pressure in the Wild

“A Cry in the Wilderness” ( Beverly Connection) is a fine family film, an appealing survival-in-the-wilderness saga of much natural beauty and minimal sentimentality. Young Jared Rushton capably carries the film almost entirely by himself.

As he boards a small plane bound for a Canadian forest where his father works on an oil rig, Brian Robeson (Rushton), who is nearly 13, is handed a hatchet in a leather holster as a goodby gift from his mother (Pamela Sue Martin). Little does she realize that she has given her son a tool that could spell the difference between his life and death. For shortly after takeoff, the plane’s bleary-eyed, unshaven pilot (Ned Beatty, in a good cameo) suffers a fatal heart attack. Very swiftly Brian finds himself crash-landed in a remote lake.

Bright and sturdy, he soon learns to trust to instinct and logic in his struggle for survival. Adapted by Gary Paulsen and Catherine Cyran from Paulsen’s prize-winning novel “Hatchet,” “A Cry in the Wilderness” gains dimension through its deft flashbacks in which we discover that Brian’s parents have recently divorced, leaving him confused and bitter. The urgent matters of food, shelter and defense against predatory animals allow Brian to gain perspective toward his troubled emotional state. Rage and fear gradually give way to resourcefulness and resilience; Brian finds he has little time for self-pity and learns to take pleasure in his growing mastery of his environment.

Directed by Mark Griffiths with gracefulness and a sense of commitment, “A Cry in the Wilderness” reflects imagination, thoughtfulness and sound judgment from start to finish. Brian’s predicament is made completely credible yet is not presented in such a harsh light as to terrify small children. Yet the very real dangers he confronts are not glossed over; Brian may be surrounded by glorious forests and mountain ranges, but he has not landed in some benign Garden of Eden. There are so few films even remotely suitable for kids anymore that “A Cry in the Wilderness” (rated PG because a few scenes may be too intense for toddlers) is especially welcome.