Heaven is for Real

While it's not perfect, Heaven is for Real is easily the best of the recent Christian-based dramas that have been hitting theaters lately.  Compared to the overblown and bombastic Noah, this film is sweet, small and easy to relate to.  Compared to the irritatingly simplistic and moronic God's Not Dead, this movie is sharper and better made than you would expect.  It also helps that the movie has a strong cast and a sense of humor about itself to help it get along.

The film is based on the book by the pastor Todd Burpo, and chronicles what he and his family went through when his four-year-old son, Colton (played by newcomer Connor Corum), claims he left his body and saw heaven while he was being operated on for appendicitis.  The thing is, the doctors claim that Colton never died on the operating table.  Was it all a hallucination brought on by the anesthesia the boy was under?  It's one of the questions that the movie does ask.  When the movie shows us Colton's vision of heaven, it's quite cheesy.  We see glowing angels who float before the child and sing heavenly music, but they apparently don't take requests. (Colton asks if the angels will sing "We Will Rock You".  They don't.) We also get to see Colton meet Jesus, even though we don't get to see his face during Colton's vision.  Near the end of the film, we do get to see a painting of what Colton claims Jesus looked like to him, and he looks uncannily like 80s pop star, Kenny Loggins.

The film is much better when it is down to Earth, and dealing with Burpo's conflicted reactions to the stories his son tells him.  Todd is played in the film by Greg Kinnear, who gives a wonderful and low key performance here.  It is his internal struggle as to whether or not to believe what his son is telling him that makes up most of the successful drama.  At first, he is amused by his son's stories of Jesus riding a rainbow-colored horse and singing angels.  But then, little Colton starts talking about things he couldn't possibly know about.  The boy claims he met a little girl up in heaven who had no name, and who died within Colton's mother.  Sure enough, we learn that Todd's wife (Kelly Reilly) did indeed have a miscarriage at one point.  It gets to the point where Todd becomes obsessed with learning what really happened to his son, but the movie asks a very good question in its own dialogue when Todd's wife asks "why can't it just be a mystery"? 

Does Colton's journey need answers?  Can it be seen as just a vision of heaven that was manipulated by the images and ideas pumped into a young boy's head as to what heaven is like?  These are the questions that co-writer and director Randall Wallace (Braveheart) asks in his movie.  He doesn't seem to be leading us to one simple answer, as so many Christian-based dramas seem to want to.  He offers up some other possibilities as to what may be happening, and while he does definitely steer in one clear direction by the end, it doesn't seem quite as overbearing or as heavy handed as you might expect walking in.  That's because this is a low key movie filled with honest and heartfelt performances.  In the central role, Kinnear makes the struggle that Todd is dealing with seem real.  And while young Connor Corum has a cherub-like face, the movie is smart not to play up the cuteness of the kid to the point that it affects the gag reflex.  He has an honesty to his performance as well.  When he talks about heaven, he never seems to be overselling it.  He's simply a four-year-old recalling something that happened to him.

Heaven is for Real may not be a well-rounded film, but it does give some time to those who have more rational opinions as to what happened to Colton on that operating table.  Some of these even include those who attend Todd's sermons at the local church, who fear that the boy's stories will draw some unwanted media attention to their small town.  Even Todd himself casts some doubt, such as when Colton tells him that Jesus' eyes were green and blue, he takes it that his son got it from the fact that he and his wife have green and blue eyes, respectively.  And while the movie may get preachy at times, it is never overly so.  It also helps that it includes a better-than-average cast, which includes actors like Thomas Hayden Church and Margo Martindale, as locals and Todd's friends with differing opinions on what has happened.  I also liked that those who seek a less faith-based explanation for Colton's journey are not portrayed as villains, except for the occasional school bully or two.

If the movie had kept this open-minded approach all the way through, I would have been appreciative.  Sadly, one of the last shots of the film tells you exactly what you are supposed to think.  Still, this is a strong, well-acted drama, and it has nothing to offend.  This movie's not only better than you might expect, it's smarter too.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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