Miracles from Heaven movie review (2016)
“Miracles From Heaven” shares the same producers as that last film, as well as some of the same redemptive, inspirational ideas and the real-life hook. It’s based on the 2015 memoir of the same name by Christy Beam, whose daughter, Anna, suddenly suffered from a rare intestinal disorder—and then, just as suddenly, was cured in the craziest of ways.
Much of what makes the film work is its emotionally demanding performance from the ever-accessible Jennifer Garner. She gets a big arc to work within, revealing warmth and vulnerability, grit and determination as Christy. She asks all the existential questions any of us would in the midst of such a faith-testing trauma.
Faith is, of course, the crucial component here: the mystery of it, the need for it and—ultimately—the validation of it. From the title alone, it’s clear that faith will win out in the end. But the journey there takes some turns that feel (mostly) honest and true, which should make the movie universally relatable despite the unique and specific troubles the Beam family faced.
The trailer pretty much tells the whole story, so there will be no spoilers here. But because we know what will happen at the outset, the challenge for director Patricia Riggen is finding a source of tension to keep us emotionally engaged. (Riggen tackled a similar prospect with last year’s “The 33,” based on the true story of the Chilean miners who survived 69 days while trapped underground.) Her approach, which is non-fussy and intimate, relies on the power of the human drama and its significant stakes.
At the film’s start, 10-year-old Anna (Kylie Rogers, showing not the slightest trace of child-actor precociousness) is the middle child of three daughters in a loving and devoutly Christian home in Burleson, Texas, just south of Fort Worth. She’s a smart, confident kid with a passion for books and a yearning to visit Paris. But out of nowhere one night, she’s violently vomiting, which leads to massive stomach pain, which leads to various doctors telling Christy and her veterinarian husband, Kevin (Martin Henderson), that it’s lactose intolerance or acid reflux or something else that’s minor and treatable.
