90 minuti in Paradiso

Don't be fooled by the title. There was nothing heavenly about this film. It's a corny, hokey, clichéd, dull, slow, and an inaccurate melodrama about a young minister, Don Piper (Hayden Christensen) who suffered traumatic injury in a car accident. The paramedics who arrive at the scene cannot find a pulse and leave him unattended awaiting a coroner.

Another minister caught in the resulting traffic jam enters the car and starts praying and singing, at which point he returns to life by joining in the hymn. He has been "dead" for 90 minutes. Now, it has happened that people who are being worked on with a defibrillator, etc., have come back after 90 minutes. But this guy was in a car with plastic over him.

Kate Bosworth plays the minister's wife, Eva, as if she had been heavily sedated. On the other hand, the minister is transferred to a hospital that allows him unlimited access to morphine so he is, in fact, heavily sedated. And about halfway through this 121 minutes of hell, you'll wish you were, too.

Unfortunately, Christensen's character is unlikeable as he slides into self-pity. When fireworks are going on outside, he says in his narration, those are the only fireworks left in our marriage now. He's been flat on his back in intractable pain -- I don't know what he expected.

The character is on an IV for 45 days+. He would have had a PIC line by then. Also, he's given no pain medication while they're trying to stimulate bone growth with a fixator, which is incredibly painful.

One other thing - of course the recovery is very expensive so at one point he is moved to a less expensive hospital. And all the staff becomes black. Low, producers, LOW.

The acting is uniformly bad with the exception of Fred Thompson, who comes off like John Barrymore compared to the rest of them. He offers him a milkshake - McDonald's obviously threw some money at this thing. They're everywhere.

As far as learning anything about the character's NDE, you won't, except for the last minutes of the film. Maybe heaven is worth the wait, but getting to this part of the film is not since you had to go through hell to get there. It's too little, too late.

I saw it for Hayden Christensen. I discovered a profound beautiful film , religious, no doubt, but more significant for a larger public, for simple - precise- fair translation of a terrible experience, for questions animating part of us, for decent acting and for a story about life purpose , about the others being near us, about good intentions and great battles , about self acceptance and escape from selfishness forms.

So, strange and unfair to be too critic about it.

It offers a story who, at first sight, is too personal for work in other existences. But, this is only at the first sight.

On a bridge, in January 1989, a baptist pastor is victim of a car accident.

Grace to pray of other pastor, and not only, he comes back to life. The steps to a form of cure are painful , not only for him, not only physical. But he is not alone, his beloved family is not alone.

I do not know better manner to say, in a film, this kind of story. So, I see it as a correct film. And this is , for me, the only matter thing.

I have watched 1.5 hours of this movie..nothing about heaven..poor acting at best...It is a drama about an accident but he was in the hospital the whole time so far..nothing about heaven...don't bother unless you really want to watch a slow drama drawing upon heaven for ratings...and it does need some help from heaven for it's ratings.

This is based upon a true story.

Pastor Don Piper (Christensen) is in a terrible car accident. He dies for 90-minutes, goes to Heaven, comes back and has months of endless operations and excruciating pain and doesn't treat family and friends in a good way. His wife, Eva (Bosworth), stands by him regardless.

Okay, okay, we all want to know more about what is in Heaven. Well, to learn more about Heaven you will have to wait for 1-hr and 40 minutes or so before Don reveals his experience.

Yes, this is very slow going, but true believers or wanna-be believers will see this to the end. The acting by all and the pacing is very good. In the meantime we see almost everything Don and his family and friends go through and much of it isn't pretty. Why is Don so angry? Why isn't he more appreciative of what family and friends are going through to help him with their prayers? How can a Pastor behave like this is the question we all ask. Patience as all will be revealed beyond the 1:40 mark. And it probably took a friend and former pastor J.B. Perkins (Fred Thompson) to read the riot act to Don about his behavior.

Dwight Yoakam plays Beau Beaumont, Eva's lawyer, and it's possible this was supposed to be comic relief but perhaps this was the way Beaumont really was. Hard to tell, but he was annoying, not funny.

When Don reveals his experience in Heaven he tells of seeing people of all ages that he knew in life. Contrast this with what Catholics say that all of us will be 33-years of age in Heaven. Something to think about or find others who went to Heaven for a brief time and hear what they have to say regarding the ages of people there. But the true message of this movie is this and only this: Heaven is real.

There is a subtle twist in here regarding Don's telling of the one who prayed for him holding his right hand while in the mashed vehicle. This will give you chills in a good way.

I was struck by the really good photography and by the performances of all. Kate Bosworth was truly invested in her role. Good job.

At the end we see the real Pastor Don Piper who sums up his experience. (7/10)

Violence: Yes, the accident. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

I have seen suffering like this and have been in the wife's shoes and this is very real. You have to understand the pastor's experience in heaven made his recovery more difficult (that might be a spoiler). His suffering was hard to watch but it was realistic. The spiritual struggle, financial trouble, and family trauma is just how it is. A near death experience, even without seeing heaven, makes you wish you had gone all the way, just to escape the suffering here and the suffering of dying again. It is honest and if you want to be prepared for tragedy here and heaven afterwards, it is worth the slow torture of watching this. It is better than doing yourself. The legal problems were also so true to life. Watch and learn and you might not have to live it. The last half hour is worth and since I see honesty throughout this film, I believe that is also likely the truth.