MIRACLES IN HEAVEN (2016)

Genre: Drama
Director: Patricia Riggen
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, John Carroll Lynch, Eugenio Derbez, Queen Latifah
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International 
Official Website: http://www.miraclesfromheaven-movie.com

Opening Day: 21 April 2016

Synopsis: MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN is based on the incredible true story of the Beam family. When Christy (Jennifer Garner) discovers her 10-year-old daughter Anna (Kylie Rogers) has a rare, incurable disease, she becomes a ferocious advocate for her daughter’s healing as she searches for a solution. After Anna has a freak accident, an extraordinary miracle unfolds in the wake of her dramatic rescue that leaves medical specialists mystified, her family restored and their community inspired.

Movie Review:

It’s easy to dismiss ‘Miracles from Heaven’ as yet another preachy faith-based film meant to tug at the heartstrings and make Christian believers go ‘Amen’, but such cynicism does the sincere and well-intentioned family drama no favours. Sure, the Christian faith features conspicuously throughout – from the sermons in church by the kindly Pastor Scott (John Carroll Lynch) to the frequent references to God by any one member of the Beam family at the heart of the story – but that alone doesn’t make this fact-based tale inspirational hokum; in fact, compared to other Christian movies that have come before it that we have seen, there is an incredible degree of nuance on display here, and it is to director Patricia Riggen and her screenwriter Randy Beams’ credit that their message of faith never once comes across too Churchy.

Based upon the memoir by Christy Beam, ‘Miracles’ tells the story of young Anna Beam (Kylie Rogers), the middle child of three daughters of Christy (Jennifer Garner) and Kevin (martin Henderson), who begins experiencing abdominal pain misdiagnosed as either lactose intolerance or acid reflux until it is finally found to be a rare, debilitating and potentially incurable intestinal disorder. Heartbroken, Christy labours tirelessly in search of a cure, and eventually decides to take Anna to Boston and drop in personally at the clinic of the country’s leading pediatric gastroenterologist Dr Nurko (Eugenio Derbez) despite not having an appointment in the first place. Anna’s affliction also precipitates a crisis of faith in Christy, as she questions why a supposedly merciful God would allow a child who has done no wrong to go through such a painful ordeal.

Rightly so, Riggen emphasises on the grief faced by the family during Anna’s illness and how individually as well as a collective unit each one of the Beam members grapple with the sheer hopelessness of the circumstances. Right from her opening voice-over narration, there is no doubt that Christy is the emotional centre of the film, and Garner makes her character’s anguish, desperation and despair as a parent very keenly felt, so much so that we dare to say even the most hardened soul will find it hard not to sympathise with her plight. It is probably one of the most compelling performances we’ve seen from Garner – down-to-earth, fully committed, real and tough – drawn surely from her own experience of motherhood.

Concomitantly, one also feels an indomitable sense of admiration and respect for Anna’s tenacity and inner resilience, who never gives up hope test after test, procedure after procedure, even reaching out to a fellow patient at the Boston Children’s Hospital to ease her fear of death. Rogers is truly impressive as Anna, never hitting a false note or resorting to cheap theatrics to convey her character’s pain and misery. It is perhaps inevitable that the other family members get less attention, but even so, Kevin’s struggle to be emotional bedrock to both Christy and Anna while supporting two other daughters and putting in longer hours for extra dough at the veterinarian clinic he runs does not go unnoticed.  

That Anna will eventually recover is no secret, but her process is probably one of the most, if not the most, significant miracles that the title is referring to. Discharged after Dr Nurka concludes that there is nothing more he can do for her, Anna is playing on a tree in their front yard with her older sister when she falls headfirst three storeys into the dead trunk. It will be hours before firefighters manage to pull her out, but she emerges miraculously cured, which in scientific jargon is a spontaneous remission. Anna only relates this later on to her mother, but according to her, she had an out-of-body experience to Heaven and was told by God that it was not yet her time to pass from this world.

Were this fictional, such a twist would most certainly be deemed as deus-ex-machina, but as Christy forewarns us at the beginning, a miracle cannot quite be explained by science. Therein lies the paradox and the crux for believers and non-believers alike – do you accept without rational explanation that such an event did indeed occur? But faith is just like that; you either do or you don’t believe – or as Anna puts it in the movie, “not everyone is gonna believe. That’s alright. They’ll get there when they get there”. Just as respectfully, Riggen doesn’t force her audience to take it one way or another; rather, she lays it out as it is, leaving you to make up your own mind – and yes, in the most objective sense, that choice remains yours.

So even though there is a very specific point of view that its author takes, this adaptation doesn’t blindingly subscribe to the same without question. In fact, it recognises the inevitable response of scepticism, acknowledges the right not to believe, and puts forth that faith isn’t something that comes to everyone equally. What does, and that can be universally appreciated, is the unconditional love that a mother has for her child, expressed in the selfless ways that Christy goes out to look after Anna, as well as the little acts of goodness in the people we meet. Whether you’re Christian or not, those are the little miracles that we can and should be thankful for. 

Movie Rating:

(Believer or not, this well-acted faith-based film is immensely touching as a family drama about love and sacrifice as well as a beautiful reminder to pay attention to the little miracles in our everyday lives)

Review by Gabriel Chong