Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Greg Kinnear | ... | Todd Burpo | |
Kelly Reilly | ... | Sonja Burpo | |
Thomas Haden Church | ... | Jay Wilkins | |
Connor Corum | ... | Colton Burpo | |
Lane Styles | ... | Cassie Burpo | |
Margo Martindale | ... | Nancy Rawling | |
Jacob Vargas | ... | Michael | |
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Thanya Romero | ... | Rosa |
Danso Gordon | ... | Ray | |
Rob Moran | ... | Dr. O'Holleran | |
Nancy Sorel | ... | Dr. Charlotte Slater | |
Darcy Fehr | ... | Lee Watson | |
Vivian Winther | ... | Katherine Watson | |
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Pete Hudson | ... | Old Man Watson |
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Ursula Clark | ... | Painting Girl |
This is the story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world. His son Colton claims to have visited Heaven during a near death experience. Colton recounts the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth... things he couldn't possibly know. Todd and his family are then challenged to examine the meaning from this remarkable event. The church turns on him and so does everyone who is closer or further to him including his wife. Written by Sony Pictures Publicity
I'm very spiritual but not very religious. This movie does an excellent job of sharing important information about the very real issues that near death experiences (NDEs) bring up. All the NDE stories have certain similarities and a judgmental God is not part of them at all. Religion doesn't matter either. All that matters is love for one another. IMO.
Those last few sentences were preacher than this whole movie -- which is a very good thing. It is very tough to tell a spiritual story without being preachy, but this movie does it very well.
If you have the slightest interest, you will enjoy this movie. Is it perfect? No, nothing is, but this movie is pretty good.
8 out of 10 stars. Acting is good too. Kudos to all involved in the production.
Epilogue: There's an odd phenomena happening with any movie that is religious or potentially religious, like this film. They get a lot of 1-star ratings. I'm certain these come from zealots. Mostly, I suspect they are militant atheists who think belief in God is the root of all of mankind's problems. I'm talking about the disciples of Richard Dawkins here. I'll bet serious money that most of the 1-star reviewers never saw the movie.
With a movie like this one there is another potential source of 1-star reviews, fundamentalists who like their religious ideas literal and straight from the bible. Those folks will not like this movie at all. Real spirituality is complicated.