Many times in life I wonder what the afterlife holds. Is there really a Heaven or an endless limbo somewhere between the the darkness and light? Where do our souls go after an exhausted life of existence? Heaven is for Real made me rethink the prospect of religion and God. Believing in Heaven is not about being a Christian or Muslim or Jew, it’s about having faith in our unconditional love for God.
Although the movie did give me this feeling that screamed, “you should be a believer,” there is more depth to it than Hollywood trying to convince you to convert. The movie sends the message of having innocent faith, a type of love for God that extends beyond the materialistic influence of secular life. This film looks inward, using Colton’s story to ask Christians to think through what they really believe, rather than focusing on how to get non-Christians to believe it, too.
Based on the #1 New York Times best-selling book of the same name, “Heaven is for Real,” brings to the cinema a true story of a father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son’s life-changing experience with the world. Academy Award nominee and Emmy award winning actor Greg Kinnear portrays Todd Burpo, and Kelly Reilly plays Sonja Burpo, the couple whose son Colton (Connor Corum) claims to have visited Heaven during a near death experience. Colton reveals the details of his amazing journey with innocence and speaks about things that happened before his birth … things he couldn’t possibly know. Todd and his family are then left to understand a son who knows more about the past than should be possible.
Heaven Is for Real is a moving story of the faith of a child tainted by the doubt of the world. In this film, the struggle of the Burpo family is well represented, and audiences will certainly feel a deep empathy for them in watching their story unfold on the big screen. The movie makes you question if your faith is just as strong and innocent as Colton’s. Has years of hard struggle and pain worn out your soul as to just believe in God instead of entrusting absolute faith? So the real question should be is faith for real?