Breakthrough

Great inspirational, uplifting movie. There's not a lot of these kinds of films around nowadays. Really enjoyed it.

I saw this last night on DVD and was stunned. I am a believer in God and I was blown away with this modern day miracle. I wish I knew about more of these miracles happening all over the world. These sort of miracle stories can only make the world better. #kindness

I don't believe in God but enjoyed this movie. Good human interest story. From the pastors relation with Johns mother and John's fathers lack of faith out of fear of getting his hopes up. People have been underwater in undercooled conditions for a long time and survived without brain damage before, that's how I believe he survived. Faith is a funny thing, you either have it or you don't. I don't have, but John's mom has faith for all of us and them some. I believe they would've pulled the plug if it wasn't for her stubborn pig headedness. Seeing a community come together spiritually behind a person in need was touching. Feel good movie.

I hate to tell those that think this was a miracle but the situation is really not all that uncommon. And it's pretty established medical science.

The intense coldness of freezing water slows organ function and allows for prolonged survival without oxygen. The first documented case was in Switzerland with a young girl that fully recovered after being underwater for close to 45 minutes. In fact, hypothermia treatment is now commonly used to care for patients that have oxygen deprived brains but restored cardiac and pulmonary function. Dr. Atul Gwande outlines this in his book The Checklist Manifesto - which I highly recommend for this topic and the many others covered in the book. Dr. Gawande is a great writer and all of his books are well worth the time.

As for the movie, it was what pretty standard fair for this type of movie. Better production value and bigger name actors than most Christian movies but nothing overly noteworthy.

This movie was a pleasant surprise. Ending up watching it on a whim with my sister who loves any movie based on a true story. And, yes, while the film is very heavy-handed with the religious propaganda, it's understandable given the film's circumstances. Truly a very emotionally gripping story led by a truly outstanding performance by Chrissy Metz. Seriously, she carries the film and acts her butt off. The rest of the surprisingly all-star cast play their role well. Would definitely recommend for believers and non-believers alike.