FRULEIN G.

BALANLAY MA’AM LORACE LOPEZ

GR. 12 – HUMSS E MOVIE REVIEW

A Film Review of Heaven is for Real

The movie “Heaven is for Real” is a 2014 American Christian drama film written and
directed by Randall Wallace and co-written by Christopher Parker, based on Pastor Todd Burpo and Lym
Vincent’s 2010 book of the same name. The film is characterized by the main lead Todd Burpo and
Colton Burpo, the younger son of Todd. Heaven is for Real is a better movie than you might expect. It
features some good acting, a sense of humor, and an endearing young child as its protagonist, Colton
Burpo. There is nothing in it that might shock or upset children or sensitive viewers, other from some
light gore.

Colton’s father found out that he had a broken tibia, kidney stones, and hyperplasia in a
very short amount of time. Shortly after he found out, Colton and Cassie also began to have health
problems. The doctors could not determine the problem with Colton, and he was diagnosed with the flu
but the Burpos knew it must be something more than the flu, so they transferred Colton to the
Children’s Hospital of Denver. The new hospital told the family that Colton had a burst appendix and had
to undergo emergency surgery. After his surgery, Colton was still not feeling better and was told to go
back to the hospital. The Burpos called their parish members and explained that Colton was very sick
and stranded at his house. The parish began to pray for his recovery, and Colton was feeling better
within three days. A few months later, Colton began to mention situations that occurred while he was in
surgery, but his parents did not believe him and ignored his stories. Colton continued to tell the stories
persistently and after the next few years, Colton unfolded everything that happened to him during his
surgery.  His experiences were so powerful that his parents shared them with his parish, and the story
spread throughout the whole country.

Colton mentioned that he met John the Baptist, who was on the left side of Jesus.
Colton claimed that John was extremely kind. Before this experience, Colton never knew that Jesus
had a cousin because his parents never taught him. Todd was amazed when his three-year old son
asked him, "Did you know that Jesus has a cousin?" His young child had already met John the
Baptist, a biblical hero who he would be learning about in school and at church for many years to
come. Colton is a very smart kid, he gets to understand what is happening around him. In Heaven, a
girl came up to Colton, and he did not know who she was.
The girl told Colton that she was his older sister because his mom had a miscarriage
before she had Colton. He loved his sister in Heaven and when he was put back in his family, he
missed her immensely. Colton told his mom that her daughter did not have a name and wanted to
know why. Sonja told Colton that they did not name the baby because they did not know if it was a
girl or a boy. It made Sonja happy knowing that her other daughter was in Heaven and was doing
well.  Colton told his babysitter, Ali, about his miscarried sister and how much he loved her. Ali cried
with Colton and had her faith renewed from this story.
 On the very end of the story, After Todd Burpo began to preach the amazing story of his
son, the Burpos learned of a girl, Akaine Kramarik, who had visions of Heaven. She was an
outstanding painter and started to paint pictures of Heaven when she had a vision. Colton's parents
always asked him what was wrong with pictures of Jesus when they saw one, and he would always
give them a reason. When the Burpos asked Colton what he thought of the picture of Jesus painted
by Akaine, his jaw dropped and told them that there was nothing wrong with the picture.

Overall, Heaven is for Real is a truly engaging film. The story has a brilliant plot and the
lessons to be learned are immense. We see the faith and healing of a person or a family, we see that
the heaven is a real place and told by the Colton’s father often in Colton’s own words, Jesus really
loves children, and to be ready , there is a coming last battle. I recommend this movie to everyone
especially to the kids, I believe that they will definitely understand the whole story.