The 1939 local school chapter “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” appears on the big screen nationwide

By DAVID SHARP

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Most Maine schoolchildren know that the boy was lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state’s tallest mountain. Now the rest of the US is joining the story.

Opening in 650 film In theaters Friday, “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” tells the harrowing story of 12-year-old Don Fendlerwho spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The harrowing story of survival captured the nation’s attention in the days before World War II, and the boy’s perseverance earned an award from the president.

For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan’s book, published the same year as the rescue effort, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, as has that of third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen.

“I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never gives up. It goes and goes,” said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco who also read the book several times with her own children.

Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques he learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the East Branch of the Penobscot River, where he was more than 30 miles from where he started. Bruised and cut, starving and without pants or shoes, he survived for nine days by eating berries and lost seven kilos.

The boy’s danger sparked a massive search and was the focus of headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers poured into the region to help.

The film builds on the children’s book, as told by Fendler to Egan, using additional interviews and archival footage to emphasize the importance of family, faith and community in difficult times, according to director Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger.

“Times are strangely dark in the country. You know, there are political divisions, society is a little tense, and all that. And I thought, here’s a movie that reminds people of the power of community, the power of caring for your neighbors. And the themes were so simple and easy. And for some reason we seem to be reminded of those things sometimes,” he said.

The film brings a vintage atmosphere to the big screen.

Filming took place in the woods of upstate New York, with the crew battling insects and wading through shoulder-height water for scenes in a canoe. Other scenes were filmed on Mount Katahdin and on a replica mountain peak built into a soundstage, complete with lichen-covered granite stones, blowing wind, rain and lightning.

The film gives the perspective of the distraught family and the terrified boy, played by Luke David Blumm. His father is played by Paul Sparks (“House of Cards,” “Boardwalk Empire”). Caitlin FitzGerald (“Masters of Sex,” “Succession”), a Maine native who read the book and met Fendler as a girl, stars as Donn’s mother.

FitzGerald isn’t the only Mainer involved in the film. Producer Ryan Cook, who also grew up in Maine, teamed up with another Mainer, Dick Boyce. Both were familiar with the book and Cook became close to Fendler and previously produced a documentary about him.

Fendler was generous with his time and often told his story at school assemblies. “I tell them all that they have something inside of them that they don’t know they have,” he told The Associated Press in 2011, five years before his death at age 90. We are going to discover how strong a person is in heart and mind – that is called the will to live.”

Sylvester Stallones Balboa Productions took on the project because he liked the story of the plucky underdog.

Kightlinger, who went with Katahdin to audition to direct the film, said adventure stories are a dime a dozen. This, he said, was made stronger by the backstory of the difficulties Donn and his father had in connecting with each other.

“At the end of the day, it’s about a kid who just wants a hug from his dad,” Kightlinger said. “That’s such a pure, simple message, and I think more films should strive to do that and remind people of the simple things, because there’s a lot of noise in our world right now and the simple things sometimes get lost. “

Nielsen said the story is both compelling and practical. In her classroom, the book inspires discussions about geography, plants and wildlife; preparation and survival skills; and resilience in the face of adversity.

Her teenage son learned a valuable lesson from the book: Stay together in the wilderness.

The 16-year-old hiked Mount Katahdin with friends a few weeks ago. After walking above the trees, they were walking on rocks when a storm came up. As a group, the three made the difficult decision to return.

“My son wanted to continue, but he knew they had to stay together. He learned that lesson from the book. I am 100% sure,” she said.