Paradise Recovered (2010)

A devout young woman learns about faith, living, and love from a surprising source.

Director:

Storme Wood

Writer:

Andie Redwine

Stars:

Heather Wallis, Dane Seth Hurlburt, Oliver Luke

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Heather Wallis	...	Esther (as Heather del Rio)
Dane Seth Hurlburt	...	Gabriel
Oliver Luke	...	Mark
Andrew Sensenig	...	David Sawyer
Richard Dillard	...	Warren F. Vanderbilt
Austin Chittim	...	Phillip Sawyer
Wendy Zavaleta	...	Mrs. Sawyer
Jim Aabear	...	Richard
Marina Seitsinger	...	Susan
Anna Valerie Becker	...	Sophie
Leah Kirts	...	Bridget
Michael Hodson	...	Announcer
Katie Bostdorff	...	WQMP Reporter
Sarah Ivey-Lucas	...	Woman in Store
Trenadee Lafferty	...	Stylist

Storyline

Esther Harris, a young woman praised for her virtue and devotion to Warren F. Vanderbilt's Prophetic Watchman Ministries, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime - to attend Vanderbilt's Kingdom Bible College and to marry Phillip Sawyer, the son of a minister and a Kingdom student being groomed for the ministry. When the fundamentalist Christian sect falls on hard times, Esther looks for employment at a local health food store to supplement the group's income. At the store, Esther gets a chance to share her faith with her new manager, Gabriel, a devout skeptic and preacher's kid, and his roommate, Mark, a college drop-out who finds Christian television to be great entertainment. Shot entirely on location in Southern Indiana and Austin, Texas, Paradise Recovered attempts a modern-day retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan while addressing the important topics of faith, tolerance, and spiritual abuse in modern culture.

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Plot Keywords:

faith | christian | college | health food | austin texas | 

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Taglines:

It's about believing.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$115,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

By The Glass Productions

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 / (high definition)

Did You Know?

Quotes

Mark: What's her attraction to the store? Those people are always there.
Gabriel: The point on the ideological spectrum at which far left bohemians and right-wing fundamentalists meet is a health food store.

User Reviews

Fine film about faith

Here's a piece of work that really gets at the heart of what it means to have faith. In whom do you place your faith? A supreme being? A book? A church? A minister? This film is an intelligent, well-told and well-acted dramatization of a young woman's struggle to go against what she has been told and think for herself. If you have lived in a small American town you have encountered the kinds of people this film depicts; you will recognize both their sincerity and their cruelty. And maybe you will think about how some people wield power, and how others can go through life without ever questioning their submission.

One tangential remark: there's a lot of discussion about how the film is a modern-day retelling of the Good Samaritan parable. It isn't really. Google that parable, read the details about what the story meant in Jesus' time, and you'll see why. But the dissimilarity doesn't detract from this film.