12 Year-Old Recovers From Incurable Illness in Faith-Based Drama Recounting Real-Life Miracle
A 12 year-old girl, Annabel Beam, played by Kylie Rogers, was raised by her parents on a farm in Burleson, Texas. Here, her life is idyllic, and she has cats, dogs, goats, cows and a donkey. Annabel has two sisters, Abbie, played by Brighton Sharbino, and Adelynn played by Courtney Fansler. Everything seems to be perfect until Annabel is 10 years old. Then, she begins to experience severe stomach pains.
Annabel’s mother, Christy, played by Jennifer Garner, rushes her daughter to an emergency room doctor who immediately diagnoses the girl’s problem as a combination of lactose intolerance and acid reflux. His course of treatment for that combination of conditions eventually fail to have any effect. The now-frightened Christy takes Anna to a gastroenterologist, played by Bruce Altman. This doctor says she has an obstruction of the small bowel that needs immediate surgery.
Annabel is then referred to a highly-regarded physician in Boston, who specializes in intestinal disorders. The problem is that the specialist, Dr. Nurko, played by Eugene Derbez, has a nine-month waiting list. That means Annabel is likely to die before Dr. Nurko has time to see her.
As Annabel rapidly deteriorates, Christy is frustrated at her inability to help her. When she asks her mother, “Why do you think God hasn’t healed me?” Christy begins to question her faith. The situation gets worse when some fellow parishioners suggest Annabel’s affliction might be punishment for sin.
Christy tells her husband, played by Martin Henderson, that she is through with church, at least until Annabel is healed.
Desperate tosave her daughter, Christy decides to take Annabel to see Dr. Nurko, without an appointment. She hopes the unnanounced visit will embarass the doctor into seeing her. This plan works, and a battery of test are ordered. Unfortunately, an MRI, an endoscopy and several other tests confirm that Annael will not make it much longer, and she should get her affairs in order.
Before Christy and Annbel return to the farm, they meet a waitress with a heart of gold, played by Queen Latifah. She takes them on a whirlwind tour of Beantown in her junky old car.
Back in Burleson, Annabel’s prospects are poor. One day, she falls down inside a hollow tree trunk, hits her head and blacks out.
This could be the and of her, but when she comes out of the coma, a miracle has happened, and her bowels are miraculously healed. It turns out that while she was in the coma, she had an out-of-body experience, and she relates how she visited Heaven and even had a heart-to-heart with her Creator.
Miracles from Heaven is a faith-based docudrama adapted from Christy Beam’s best-selling memoir of the same name. The movie is directed by Patricia Riggen, known for The 33. It is a wholesome family movie that features a touching tale of survival with a dose of Christianity mixed in.
The Lord working in mysterious ways designed to elicit an “Amen!’ from believers in the Amen Corner.
Miracles from Heaven
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG for mature themes
Running time: 109 minutes
Studio: Affirm Films
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Watch the Miracles from Heaven trailer.
