Report of “Heaven is for Real”

Directed by Randall Wallace, “Heaven is for Real (2014)” is one of the most eye-catching drama fiction movies in Hollywood. The performance and experience of humor reflected in the movie make it a perfect fiction movie to watch. The director spells out the agenda of the movie handily in the title’s declarative sentence. The storyline of the movie is based on how Colton, the four-year-old famous person in the film visited heaven and survived to narrate the pleasures in heaven. The young boy did not die as an alternative he was just going through a indispensable surgical process of appendectomy and had to be put through anesthesia, which gave him the sense of visiting another world. The movie revolves around a religious theme of life after death, which is a Christian belief (Wallace et al. 15). After the surgical process, Colton tells the story of his encounter with Jesus. He also shares with his father what Jesus told him about his new world.
“Heaven is for Real” focuses on casting a wider set of audience. In fact, on many occasions, the audience of this movie feels that the director is going beyond the expectation of his Christian audience (Wallace et al. 17). Wallace also captures the attention of his audience through devoting credible moments of doubt to the characters in the film. The critical analysis of the film gives it a nice give-and-take between Todd, who is a church pastor and his wife Sonja regarding whether the story of Colton is the real miracle as it seems. The protagonist’s mother is so drowned into her faith that she cannot doubt what the son narrates as his encounter with Jesus (Wallace et al. 21).
Even so, the issue that various critics have with “Heaven is for Real” is that the movie can hardly leave alone. The fact that it has to show its hand every time destroys Colton’s beautiful experience of mystery and applies improper techniques to shame the non-Christians (Burpo and Vincent 19). For instance, Todd pays a visit to a non-Christian therapist, a scene that is captured in a lot of distress. The two engage in an interesting conversation from the start, when Todd cites that probably her disbelief in Christian faith would help him to have another perspective on the situation. Another example is when Colton tells the audience about his experience in heaven, which he explains vividly (Wallace et al. 31). The director also has to demonstrate this to his viewers, which merely leads to disappointment since it is incredibly stereotypical and cheesy.
The characters in “Heaven is for Real” play significant roles towards making this fiction movie an eye-capturing film. In fact, Kinnear’s contributions cannot be underestimated. He makes a good comic foil and a fine preacher in the cast. He gives insight to his viewers through his last sermon, where he recalls on how people relate yardsticks with miracles (Burpo and Vincent 27). Again, the cinematography displayed on a widescreen is also beautiful to view. The sermon regarding miracle, together with the cinematography creates a connection with the theme of Christian belief that the protagonist depicts in the film.
Concisely, the movie is one of the most interesting fiction films that deserve Oscar nominations. Despite its good rating, much more should be improved in the film. In as much as the four-year-old boy tried to make the movie adorable, improving his creativity in the movie would have made all the scenes fantastic. Otherwise, it is one movie that I would recommend for any audience to grab.
 
Works Cited
Burpo, Todd, and Lynn Vincent. Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back. , 2014. Internet resource.
Wallace, Randall, Christopher Parker, Joe Roth, and T D. Jakes. Heaven Is for Real. Stockholm: Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Nordic, 2015.