Milagres do Paraíso

'MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A faith-based Christian drama flick, adapted from the memoir (of the same name) by Christy Beam. Beam tells the story of her 10-year-old daughter; who suffered from an incurable disease, and then was suddenly cured from it (after having a near-death experience). The movie deals with Christy's struggles with her faith, while coping with her daughter's tragic illness. Jennifer Garner stars in the film, as Christy Beam, and it costars Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, Eugenio Derbez and Queen Latifah. It was directed by Patricia Riggen (who also helmed 'THE 33', last year), and it was scripted by Randy Brown (who also wrote 2012's 'TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE'). The movie only received mixed reviews from critics, but it did surprisingly well at the Box Office (where viewers raved about it). I enjoyed it as well.

The story takes place in Burleson, Texas (in 2011). Christy Beam (Garner), and her husband Kevin (Henderson), are devastated to learn that one of their daughters, 10-year-old Anna (Rogers), suffers from pseudo-obstruction motility disorder. The disease makes it so Anna is unable to consume food, without tubes. It's also deadly, and incurable. Christy doesn't understand how this could have happened, to her Christian family (that always goes to church regularly). She struggles to keep her faith, and then is amazed to learn of her daughter's miraculous recovery (possibly because of it).

I was raised strictly Catholic, and I always attended church regularly (as a child), so I'm always interested in any movies that deal with religion. I'm not usually that impressed, with the average 'overly preachy' ones (that mostly just 'preach to the choir'), but this one is really well made. Garner's performance is amazing, and Riggen's direction is equally as impressive. The movie seems a little clichéd, and gimmicky, but for the most part it's pretty emotional (I cried multiple times). It's also kind of inspiring. The film is actually one of those rare Christian movies that's worth the time to watch!

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The film is beautifully shot, and really well acted, seriously the best performance of Jennifer Gardner's career she really lived it! Every one in it did a good job but especially the little girl that is the main character. And its a true story! I really don't understand how anyone could not like this film. I'm an actress and fairly critical because I see film technically as well as story wise, but this one really stands up! The story was wonderful. I loved it! I cried my eyes out, I connected with the characters and cared about their journey and it left me thinking. In the end what more do we want from a film! I really hope Jennifer Gardner gets some recognition for this role she earned it!

I was dreading this movie. On the surface, it is everything I dislike about Christian film. By what it emphasized, the marketing made me think that I was in for a film where the struggles of life, while real, would be quickly gotten through, and the film would be mainly focusing on what happens after God has answered our prayers and we refuse to hide our light under a bushel. Granted I had not seen much of the marketing, I tend to avoid trailers and hype, and I've been burned by Christian film more times than I can count.

So let's just say my expectations were low.

This film surprised me though. That isn't to say it's all good, but I would definitely take the pile of films put out by Christian studios and imprints and put this one near the top of the stack. It certainly is more deserving of a theatrical release than most.

Miracles From Heaven is directed by Patricia Riggen and stars Jennifer Garner as the mother of a sick child named Anna, played by Kylie Rogers. The child is diagnosed with a rare disease that doesn't allow her body to digest food. Stay away from the trailers for this movie if you plan on seeing it; they spoil the entire film. That's all I'm going to say, because I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone.

I was somewhat excited about seeing Miracles From Heaven, but I was expecting the movie to be as the trailers said it would be, and it was a completely different movie, despite it still being pretty good. The marketing team for this movie should really be fired, because the advertisement for Miracles From Heaven was marketing a separate movie. The film does have some flaws, but it was good overall.

My favorite thing about Miracles From Heaven was the performances given by the actors that play the little girl's parents, that being Jennifer Garner as the mother and Martin Henderson as the father. These two did pretty great together, and made a very believable married couple that are struggling with their ability to cope with the sickness that their daughter has. Although I wish the film went a bit deeper into their conflicted relationship based on stress and disagreements, both actors did very well, and deserve some recognition by receiving future roles.

Having said that about the two parents, and the actors that played them, not many other characters, or actors, stand out. Most of the other actors do fine, and don't really have anything special to do with their screen time, while also not exactly doing bad. Queen Latifah was marketed as playing a big character in this film (her name is on the poster), yet her character was given a good amount of depth, and then forgot about by the script. Her character just disappears from the film entirely, and it was pretty disappointing, to be honest.

Kylie Rogers, who plays Anna, the sick little girl, does pretty good. Her performance isn't very distinctive, but she does okay for a little girl. Both of her sisters seem like wasted characters overall. I really wish the film would've dived into the difficulties that the sisters were dealing with, as in having a very sick sister, but it didn't. The sisters, played by Brighton Sharbino and Courtney Fansler, were partially wasted as characters that could've been interesting.

The direction was pretty good. No shots really stood out as good or bad, and the overall camera work did what it should've done, it just wasn't as interesting as it could've been. The script was pretty nice, with some very good dialogue at points, and some pretty bland dialogue at others. There were a couple different subplots that really should've been either cut out, or given more attention to, that were kind of stuck in between the two, and those elements are what dragged the story down.

The absolute worst thing about Miracles From Heaven is the pacing, particularly with the time jumps. There are more than enough time jumps, yet the film fails to explain how much time has passed. Coming out of the theater, I didn't know whether or not the film's setting lasted 6 months or 6 years. These time jumps really pulled the movie down by an entire letter grade (or so), and was pretty underwhelming.

Other than the few complaints I mentioned, I liked just about everything about Miracles From Heaven. It didn't get too preachy, and was constructed as a film pretty well. I'd recommend Miracles From Heaven to anyone who can handle watching something somewhat sad, because there are a couple sentimental moments.

Having been initially wary of how well this film would play out - I ended up surprised at just how successfully it was handled. To begin with, it features a sterling performance by American Jenifer Garner. She absolutely shines in her difficult role as mother to young daughter Anna Beams. Anna's story could too easily be palmed off as clichéd but, being based on factual situations makes it considerably different from other movies with similar content. It tells of Anna's astounding life changing experiences while fighting off a rare, deadly digestive disorder. Young Kylie Rogers as Anna, proves herself to be quite a formidable star.

The screenplay by Randy Brown is adapted from Christy Beam's (Anna's mother) factual book. Christy examines the many challenges and inspirational experiences shared by her daughter and family. Garner plays Christy, while New Zealand actor Martin Henderson ("Little Fish" '05) turns in good support as her husband. The family have all moved to live on his newly established Veterinary farm in Texas and are set to be sorely tested, emotionally and financially. Another noteworthy performance comes from multi-talented Eugenio Derbez, playing a highly interesting character who's based on real-life specialist Dr Samuel Nurko. Other cast members in supporting roles also execute their characterizations very well indeed. And, that surprising 'Tree' scene is rather unsettling.

American based Peruvian cinematographer and director of photography Checco Varese (AKF: "The 33" in 2015) supplies a wide array of glorious visuals. These are accompanied by a worthy music score from veteran Roman composer Carlo Siliotto. The whole work is nicely tied together with great flare by talented Mexican director Patricia Riggen, who keeps this true story running at just the right tempo. Viewers with tendencies towards little or no faith, or those who maybe cynical towards situations involving the inexplicable - might find this movie could be wasted on them - however, no matter what your view, it is difficult to dispute the confirming evidence of documented medical records!. If your'e looking for a faith-lift based on actual events, then you won't be let down. Introducing the real-life characters over the final credits is a master touch. It's good to know this movie was so successful - it actually made a well deserved profit. It's certainly a refreshing break from the assorted porn masquerading as 'entertainment' on today's market. Congratulations all involved and Sony/Columbia.