The Other Side of Heaven

I'm sorry that the adolescent ravings of the previous reviewer appear first. His profound failure to "get it" is an embarrassment.

First of all, this is about a young man of "white-bread" heritage casting aside all he has and all he is, even leaving the love of his life for two and a half years, in order to immerse himself in a culture about which he is totally ignorant so that he can offer them the greatest gift he has to offer: His faith.

Rather than "looking down" on the people he has come to SERVE, he bears great hardships, and exerts himself in ways he could never have conceived, in order to connect with these people. He comes to love them, profoundly.

And their love for him in return, even those who have reason to be suspicious of him, is a testament to his sincerity.

Please recall that this is a TRUE STORY. Whatever you might think of John Groberg's religion, or his motives, the fact is that these things actually happened in just this way. He DID travel from Idaho to Tonga, he did live among the people there, he did come to gain their trust, he did bring to them a precious gift of faith, and he did return often throughout the rest of his life, with his wife and family, to be among these people whom he loved.

That anyone could be so callously dismissive of this truth is a sad commentary on our "post-Christian" society.

But I found this film to be deeply moving and very satisfying, and I recommend it highly to those who enjoy inspiring film.

I have yet to catch all of the movie on TMC but I have seen about 7/8ths of it. It's funny, sharp, very interesting and easy to watch. I found myself laughing and crying with the character. Being based on a true story makes it even more fun to watch. The movie sure does explain more about what a missionary goes through. What a life this man had! He was truly blessed. This movie was a great find. The main actor was magnificent in the role and his portrayal made the movie even greater. The locations were like heaven on earth. The main character had to overcome local prejudice against missionaries, his total removal from worldly possessions, his fears of becoming an elephant (see the movie he explains this) and his loneliness for his wife to be are just a few of his challenges. According to his church elders he must first finish his missionary role before he can marry his true love. This is one rule he is determined never to break. The fellowship and eventual closeness he enjoys with the natives proves to be a grand learning experience for both him and his new friends. "The Other Side of Heaven" is a must see for anybody.

There takes something to make a good movie that well represents the feelings that come through special experiences. I am well familiar with the LDS mission experience. To people of the LDS faith this can be one of the most special experiences of their lifetime. The Other Side of Heaven portrayed that better than any other film I have seen. God's Army, a movie that was also made to depict the life of an LDS missionary, was good at introducing the LDS culture to those who do not share that faith. But it lacked the spiritual feelings that also come from such an experience. The Other Side of Heaven was more successful at portraying the spiritual feelings that come from serving an LDS mission. Feelings are big for me, when I watch a movie that is what I look for most. In a scary movie I want to feel scared. In a comedy I want to feel happy. In a film that is suppose to represent a spiritual experience I want to feel a spiritual experience. God's Army didn't do that, The Other Side of Heaven did.

The Other Side of Heaven also did a good job at portraying what it is like for a person from a different culture and lifestyle clashing with a new culture for the first time. The things that happened to the main character, Elder Groberg, while getting to know the people from the new culture are very similar to others who have done the same. God's Army was did well at showing what LDS missionaries serving in the U.S. would go through. The Other side of Heaven did a good job at showing what LDS missionaries on a foreign island would go through. Although many may not experience all the extremities Elder Groberg went through, much of his interactions with the people are similar.

I hope to see more movies based on true stories do their best to portray the feelings and experiences that come from the story of what actually happened. The Movie Gandhi and Seven Years in Tibet did that. The film The Other Side of Heaven is right there with them.

First of all I wanted to say that if you watched the movie and walked away from it without feeling emotionally moved (in a positive way) you might be emotionally dead. Even if you don't believe in the miracles that occurred in the film, you can appreciate the poignant message behind the story of a young man and his struggles to help the people he fell in love with. I sense that there are a number of "Mormon-phobics" that ended up "getting lured into" seeing this movie somehow and end up screaming "Propaganda!" It's actually quite amusing that these people are so afraid of this religion that they make such unreasonably absurd efforts to avoid anything to do with the religion or people who are members of it. The religious doctrine in this movie was portrayed in such a benign manner that it is nearly indiscernible.

It's kind of like saying that "The Sound of Music" was Catholic propaganda (although some antagonists will probably feel that way anyway).

This movie was deeply moving and it was one of the few movies that had the effect of permanently affecting me in a positive way. If you're looking for the usual Hollywood style of over-embellishing a story to the point of making it unbelievable, or trying to concentrate on some spectacular story line or special effects you'd probably best move on to the fiction section and leave this one alone. This is a real story about real people with real feelings - written and produced for real people.

I really did enjoy this film, although it is certainly no cinematic masterpiece, however I do think it would be of fairly limited appeal to a non-Mormon audience. It is a fairly slow and simple story, done fairly simplistically, but not without its charms. To really appreciate it I suspect one would need to have some background knowledge of the key elements of the movie. I was certainly surprised to see it as a Disney movie and was mortified to see other posters suggesting that the advertising for the film was less than forthcoming on the true nature of the storyline. For what it is, its very entertaining and uplifting, but I would strongly suspect that this film will not appeal to a wide audience. My Vote 7/10 (although I unashamedly admit my own bias)