Heaven Is For Real | Movie Review

Faith. It is quite simply one of the hardest subjects to base a film around. You either end up alienating half of the audience who disagree with the faith at hand, or you end up offending those that already had faith before you started.

You also run the risk of what I refer to as ‘The Eye-Rolling-Critique’. That is the moment in the film where they try so hard to ‘MAKE YOU BELIEVE!’, that non-believers are left with nothing but a common eye-roll to showcase their disdain. Or the obvious parallel is forcing believers to offer the same gesture for Hollywood mocking their beliefs…yet again. In Heaven Is For Real, director Randall Wallace is trying to buck both of these trends.

Based on the best-selling book, Heaven Is For Real stars Greg Kinnear and Kelly Reilly as real-life couple Todd and Sonja Burpo. Parents of two young children, the Burpo’s are a pillar of their community. Todd is the local church preacher, Sonja the church choir leader, and both spend ample time doing whatever they can to better the lives of those in their community.

After a few personal and financial setbacks, the Burpo’s double-down and have their faith dutifully tested when their 4-year old son, Colton, is rushed to emergency surgery with a ruptured appendix. After a remarkable recovery, Colton confides in Todd that while he was unconscious…he visited Heaven. Yes, THE Heaven.

Could Colton’s vision stem from a hallucination brought on by stress and a deeply religious upbringing? As a preacher himself, does his initial reluctance to believe Colton’s story demonstrate a crisis of faith? Will the townsfolk and church members support or separate themselves from such literal takes on the Bible’s works? These are the questions at the heart of Heaven Is For Real and the film takes them on fairly straight forward.

Greg Kinnear is the perfect choice for a film like this. His affable personality exudes the dignity of a preacher with family in mind, as well as a crisis at heart. His relationship with Colton’s Conner Corum is just shy of liquid sugar and manages to carry the heart of the film on its back while carefully avoiding the pratfalls of other uplifting films in this mold.

There are numerous character actors in the film (most notably Thomas Haden Church and Justified’s Margo Martindale), but director Wallace wise chooses to focus the film on Todd and his search truth in the absence of evidence. Todd’s pursuit to understand and comprehend just what everything means is the center of this film and Wallace’s focus remains firmly focused.

Nothing in ‘Heaven’ is going to change your mind on whatever side of the pulpit you stand, nor provide you with some kind of spiritual awakening. Odds are you already have secured stock in whatever it is you put your own peace of mind into and the filmmakers seem to have no problem with your perspective.

What it could do is provide you with insight into WHY people choose to believe whatever it is that they believe, and gives you an understanding that not everyone needs to believe as you do in order to live good lives. It also tells a story for those that already do believe in their respective God, that it is ok and natural to sometimes become confronted with a crossroads. It’s what we do at those cruxes of life that provide our souls with the direction it requires.

Heaven Is For Real is a respectful, yet very Hollywood take on faith and how a man can reconcile his dilemma when confronted with a crisis of belief. It is not powerful enough to sway anyone nor is it sappy enough to deter them. This is simply a good, old-fashioned film the entire family can enjoy and maybe, just maybe, it could spark some insightful conversation.

If $10 is the full price of admission, Heaven Is For Real is worth $6.50

 

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider