By Gene Ogorodov
When I
watched the movie Heaven is for Real my
expectations were low. The overtly predatory nature of American
religion, especially Evangelical Protestantism, suggested that this
film existed for the sole purpose of manipulation and extortion. Yet,
even with already jaded perspective Heaven is for Real
stooped below my lowest expectations.
Silly,
sappy, and dishonest are adjectives which come far to readily to mind
when describing this film. The genre of Evangelical testimonial which
forms the basic structure of the plot discredits the validity of the
story out of hand. Cherry picking past events to construct a
plausible support for supernatural intervention is the complete
opposite of an unbiased and objective history. Also, using the biased
overly spiritualized formulations of the average Testimony a less
than creative writer could make Joseph Stalin appear to be one of the
most pious Evangelicals of the Twentieth Century. What could possibly
be a more radial spiritual transformation than going from a gangster
to founding a State Church?
