Fact is stranger than fiction

ROGERS AND GARNER. Potent healing power of faith.

IF THE CineFilipino film fest wants movie buffs to take it seriously, it needs to get its act together and strive to be more efficient.

On Wednesday, we decided to drop some writing chores before going to the Inquirer to catch one of the comebacking festival’s entries. Alas, we ended up getting turned away—because we were told that the film’s print was a “no-show.”

Because of our crazy schedule, our next available moviegoing option was to catch the last screening of a movie for this section. We didn’t want to run the risk of getting our time wasted again, so we decided to watch Patricia Riggen’s religious drama, “Miracles from Heaven,” instead.

It’s perfect for cynics and pessimists who need to be occasionally reminded that there’s more to life than money, power and ambition.

Christy Beam (Jennifer Garner) and her hardworking but cash-strapped husband, Kevin (Martin Henderson), find themselves stuck in a difficult situation when one of their three daughters, Anna (Kylie Rogers), is diagnosed with a rare case of gastrointestinal paralysis—a motility disorder that prevents her from digesting and absorbing food.

Things take a turn for the worse when the tweener’s distended abdomen gets increasingly bloated and obstructed—and, as she writhes in constant and excruciating pain, Anna tells her mom she’d rather die than endure more suffering!

The inexplicable, life-or-death situation makes Christy, previously a devout, churchgoing Christian, lose her faith and question the existence of God. With no one else to turn to, she looks up to the sky and asks, “Are you there? Because I feel that you aren’t.”

Healing power

Christy fails to appreciate subtle gestures of kindness and the potent healing power of faith, because she is consumed by anger and helplessness. She has even stopped praying, because she can no longer find comfort from her unanswered prayers. But, is God any less loving if He doesn’t give us the answers we seek?

Anna’s problem takes on a stunningly “supernatural” dimension when she falls 30 feet, headfirst, from a cottonwood tree!

What happens next is the basis of the inspiring memoir, “Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and Her Amazing Story of Healing,” written by Christy last year.

The film plays out like a Movie of the Week special on the Hallmark channel—it’s schmaltzy, but its heart is in the right place.

What sets it apart from other tearjerkers is ironically the same element that makes its predictability and storytelling contrivances acceptable—it’s based on a true story! Fact is stranger than fiction, indeed.

When Anna falls to what appears to be her imminent death, Christy and everyone rooting for her family turn to the only thing that can overturn Anna’s sad plight and fate—they kneel down and pray!