I'll state right off that I'm a pastor. So I certainly have a bias in favour of faith, God and miracles. I've seen miracles happen - people who recover from illnesses after being told that there's no hope, with doctors who can't really explain why. And in all honestly, the vast majority of the time there is no miracle. People die of diseases after being told they have no hope. And as Christy Beam (played by Jennifer Garner) said as this movie came to a close - I don't really know why one person gets a miracle and so many others don't. I just know that they happen. I'm grateful for them. They do reveal to me that there's more to life than what we can see or touch. There's a dimension beyond anything we can fully understand, and whose workings are a mystery to us. So, in a sense, there's my disclaimer; a clear statement of my bias. And having said that, the strange thing is that I don't usually like these faith- based Christian movies. They're generally too formulaic, with the people of faith trying to convince the people without faith to have faith, and there's always some obnoxious atheist character who has to be convinced. But this movie went beyond the formula. Maybe that's why I liked it.
The main characters in this true story are Annabel and Christy Beam. Mom and daughter. When just a little girl, Annabel was diagnosed with a terrible disease that caused her great pain, made her unable to eat, and basically left her slowly dying while she suffered. Annabel was played by a young actress named Kylie Rogers, who was superb. She portrayed Annabel in pain so believably, and yet she also captured a little girl's innocence in the midst of it all. I was extremely impressed. Garner as Christy was also very good. I liked Christy. Bursting out of the normal formula, Christy doesn't just believe that a miracle's coming. She questions faith. She questions God. She gets angry. She gives up on belief. She was real; a genuine person dealing with a horrible situation as best she could and as most people would. Garner has been credited with a great performance. I agree with that assessment - although, frankly, I thought Kylie Rogers was the highlight of the movie.
What to make of the miracle? I honestly don't know. Kylie fell down the centre of a hollowed out old tree and landed head first. When she woke up, she was fine. Not only uninjured from the fall, but with her disease gone. While she was unconscious after the fall she says she had some sort of vision - visiting "heaven" and being told by God that she'd be fine. And she was. The specialist she was seeing in Boston said that it was possible that the fall essentially re-booted her central nervous system and got her digestive system working again. Could be. That could also be a miracle in itself. As far as her claims to have spoken with God are concerned? Might have been real; might have been a dream or hallucination. Only Annabel knows. All that really matters is that a little girl who wasn't supposed to get better got better.
Researching the story, I found that for the most part the details of the movie are accurate. A few things have been added for dramatic purposes, and perhaps to acclimate the viewer to the possibility of miracles. For example, Christy and Annabel did in fact have an appointment with Dr. Nurko in Boston. They didn't just show up unannounced. But it all still comes down to this - a little girl who wasn't supposed to get better got better. Who can argue with that. How you believe it happened is a matter of faith.
This is a decent movie. It drew me into the story and touched a chord with me. (7/10)
The main characters in this true story are Annabel and Christy Beam. Mom and daughter. When just a little girl, Annabel was diagnosed with a terrible disease that caused her great pain, made her unable to eat, and basically left her slowly dying while she suffered. Annabel was played by a young actress named Kylie Rogers, who was superb. She portrayed Annabel in pain so believably, and yet she also captured a little girl's innocence in the midst of it all. I was extremely impressed. Garner as Christy was also very good. I liked Christy. Bursting out of the normal formula, Christy doesn't just believe that a miracle's coming. She questions faith. She questions God. She gets angry. She gives up on belief. She was real; a genuine person dealing with a horrible situation as best she could and as most people would. Garner has been credited with a great performance. I agree with that assessment - although, frankly, I thought Kylie Rogers was the highlight of the movie.
What to make of the miracle? I honestly don't know. Kylie fell down the centre of a hollowed out old tree and landed head first. When she woke up, she was fine. Not only uninjured from the fall, but with her disease gone. While she was unconscious after the fall she says she had some sort of vision - visiting "heaven" and being told by God that she'd be fine. And she was. The specialist she was seeing in Boston said that it was possible that the fall essentially re-booted her central nervous system and got her digestive system working again. Could be. That could also be a miracle in itself. As far as her claims to have spoken with God are concerned? Might have been real; might have been a dream or hallucination. Only Annabel knows. All that really matters is that a little girl who wasn't supposed to get better got better.
Researching the story, I found that for the most part the details of the movie are accurate. A few things have been added for dramatic purposes, and perhaps to acclimate the viewer to the possibility of miracles. For example, Christy and Annabel did in fact have an appointment with Dr. Nurko in Boston. They didn't just show up unannounced. But it all still comes down to this - a little girl who wasn't supposed to get better got better. Who can argue with that. How you believe it happened is a matter of faith.
This is a decent movie. It drew me into the story and touched a chord with me. (7/10)