Heaven Is For Real Movie Review

is a book by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent. The movie based on the book was directed by Randall Wallace in 2014. The book tells a story of Burpo’s family who goes through a series of tough times such as emergency surgery, broken leg, kidney stones, and a cancer scare. Todd’s son, Colton Burpo suffers from appendicitis aged three years and ten months. Todd Burno who is a pastor gets an add-on to his church income by installing garage doors. He has a broken leg. Moreover, he has been battled with cancer for one year before Colton’s illness starts to show its signs. The son has almost lost his life but, fortunately, survives after going through surgery and getting a glimpse of heaven. It is a real story that gives hope to many people showing that there is always a brighter day after a dark night.

From the movie, Colton, his older sister Cassie, and his mother Sonja go for a vacation at Greeley, Colorado. They are scheduled to meet pastor Todd Burpo who has traveled earlier for a district board meeting for the Wesleyan church. They pay a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion. It is right after spending the day that the son’s health condition changes all over sudden. The illness lands him in an operating room for surgery where he fights for his life. Several doctors evaluate him and realize that his appendix has a burst hence spilling toxins over his internal organs. Calton’s body is filled with infection after the operation, affecting his normal body functioning. He takes some time to recover, and as the family is driving to visit a member of their family, the son starts to narrate things about heaven and Jesus. He gives a narration a four-year-old child would not have known. It makes them begin to believe and doubt simultaneously. Calton tells them how he met his sister who was a miscarriage. Colton also claims to have met his great-grandfather who died long before he was born. He gave right points of painting that a little girl had drawn about Jesus. The Lithuanian girl had dreams and visions about heaven ever since she was four years old (Burno and Lynn 89). The accurate descriptions by his son that was close to a written text in the Bible left Todd astonished. Burpo’s family ends up sharing the story for they perceive it to be a help for many people. Colton is currently eleven-years-old. He sometimes talks about heaven although he experienced it only once at three years old.

The adaptation of this book adds some stories, and in other stages, some scripts are removed hence distorting the flow of the story. An excellent adaptation should be faithful to the original story and should be expressive by giving the viewers the ability to participate in the process giving that story a chance on its terms. Todd Burpo is a pastor in the book while the movie points out that the family’s primary source of income is the installation of garage door business which Todd operates. In addition to his daily work, he volunteers as a high school wrestling coach and fireman. It also plays a role in helping understand where he gets the money to cater for the needs and hospital bills of his family. In the Heaven is for Real book, the family is financially unstable, and they ask for help from friends, friends of friends and close acquaintances. The hospital staff does not expect Colton to live. The movie reveals too how a nurse gives a few words in private to Todd explaining that the nurses and doctors expect his son to die. It is a part that added to show how Calton swift recovery made them believe that a miracle must have happened for him to be alive. The viewers are given a sense of hope and acknowledge the power of prayer and believe in God.

Further, the movie tells about the presence of a technical flatline that makes Colton’s heart to stop beating. This storyline has not been in the original story. But this part gives a logical explaining why Todd’s son manages to visit Heaven without dying like in the book where was mentioned the Bible story about John and Paul the apostle’s who visited heaven without dying. It is written that the father lashed out to a private room to talk to God while his son was in the operation room. The adaptation shows that he went to the hospital chapel, but the script shows he went to a pre-op place where they had left their stuff hence helping to buy time to show other scenes of the movie such as Todd Burno moving to the chapel. The choice of the praying place indicatives of how he connects with God despite being a pastor. The scene captures the viewer’s attention showing how critical the illness was prompting the father to seek divine intervention. The movie intends to persuade the viewer that heaven is literally a place where individuals go after they die. Thomas and Kelly aver that the film does not provide a modicum of good evidence (N.p).

The movie adaptation did not change the faithfulness of the original story, but it expressed the events told in a cynical manner which is easier for a viewer to understand within a short time. The music in the movie explains and represents a thousand words in a short while, therefore, capturing the attention and reducing boredom to viewers. Some claim that the film does not depict heaven as described by Colton and that it leaves viewers to decide if the boy is lying, hallucinating, and dreaming or telling the truth. In my view, time was limited to extend the story. The parts where Colton has recognized the painting of Jesus by Akine and the story about meeting with his miscarried sister are not given in the adaptation as a result of the budget allocated, or the need to reduce the time taken to make the movie. It is also hard to please every viewer since they may have different versions of how they want the events in the film to be.

Works cited

Burpo, Todd, and Lynn Vincent. Heaven is for Real book. Thomas Nelson, 2011.

(N.p.) “Heaven Is For Real” http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/heaven-is-for-real/Accessed 10 February 2018