A scene from “Miracles From Heaven.”

By Karla Betancourt/Western Sun staff writer

Based on the true story of Annabelle (Anna) Beam, “Miracles from Heaven,” will definitely make nonbelievers into miracle believers. With the despair of not knowing what her young daughter Anna Beam (Kylie Rodgers) is ill of that causes her to painfully throw up every night for several weeks, Christy (Jennifer Garner) is in search to find that one doctor who will give her a clear and correct answer.

“Ma’am we didn’t find anything wrong, she may just be lactose intolerant.” One of the many theories doctors gave to Christy and her husband Kevin Beam (Martin Henderson), before finding out that what would cause Anna’s bloating, pain, and throwing up nights was due to a rare, incurable intestine disease that wouldn’t let her process and digest food.

The doctor who found her disease recommended her to Dr. Nurko (Eugenio Derbez), one of the best doctors, whom had a nine month waiting list before Christy could even get an appointment for her daughter. She flew all the way to Boston, from Texas, without an appointment, to see Dr. Nurko with all the despair in the world as she felt her daughter was dying little by little every day.

After an unsuccessful morning of not being granted the ability to see the doctor, Christy and Anna eat a restaurant where they meet Angela (Queen Latifah) a waitress. She sees how ill Anna is and offers to give them a tour before they return to Texas. Angela was able to return a little happiness into Anna by visiting the aquarium, without knowing how much Anna wanted to go to one.

Tests, X-rays, flights from Texas to Boston and back, and so much money that was used towards Anna soon was felt to be going to waste as they saw no progress in the young girl, but she never lost faith God and her faith, whereas her mother did.

Anna goes out to play with her sister, when she sees a butterfly fly up the tree. Her sister encourages her to climb up the tree with her, when the tragic accident happens while they’re sitting at the top. Anna falls head first in the tree and goes unconscious for hours before the fire fighters are able to rescue her and fly her to an emergency room.

Miraculously, Anna survived the painful accident without any harm to her body. Days went by as Christy saw improvements in her daughter rather than her case worsening. She and her husband sat down with Anna in which she tells them how when she went unconscious after falling, she went to heaven and was told her time wasn’t up.

They flew to Boston to see Dr. Nurko in which he tells Christy that unexplainably, her daughter was healed because the hit to her head must have caused something in her body to fix her intestines. Christy returns to her church in which she tells everyone her experience and how miracles really do exist, and to never lose faith.

Don’t know precisely if a movie about miracles can be made as spectacular as this one. I’m a complete miracle believer but this movie just took it to another level, not to mention the amount of tears that it made me shed. I was that one movie attender in the corner with one arm up as a head rest only to find a way to wipe away my tears so the rest of the people wouldn’t notice.

There aren’t many films made that are faith based, and maybe it’s a good option, especially for those who may go through hard times, but it definitely is a great family-friendly movie. I can see why it’s PG rated, because it’s easy to handle but some scenes may be a bit tough for kids to understand or handle.

“Miracles from Heaven” just comes to show that not all movies have to be fairytales or made up to have a person believe in something so powerful. It sends across a great message of faith for believers and nonbelievers. It’s a sense of faith in that even the toughest situations could be bettered by a “miracle.”