Right from the get go, you need to know this is a religious movie. You'll know that yourself after the first five minutes. In fact, I disappointedly thought this was going to be another one of those corny, hyper-spiritual movies that lays the preaching on a bit too thickly for anyone except the most ardent church-goer to tolerate. I'm happy to say that this isn't one of those movies. Not quite. Stick with it and you will be rewarded, because this movie goes down another path and I wanted to see where we were going. This movie makes a valiant attempt to examine the struggles people have with their faith when life suddenly throws hardship and difficulties at them. It's not afraid to ask the questions that people have at these times when they start to ask if God is really there. Trouble is, it doesn't do this in a really coherent manner and keeps wandering off in other directions and then sort of coming back to the main theme. I don't think it will come as a spoiler to anyone when I say that by the end of the movie everyone, including the young protagonist, has come to the conclusion that God really is there, all the time. We just don't always see Him. The trouble is, the movie fails to properly explain how we actually came to that point. This is a big failing. The young boy, Wesley, says he has had an epiphany and takes the time to explain what it was. We just don't see how he came to that epiphany. I thought I must have lost focus for a few minutes and missed something. so I watched the final 10 minutes again. Sorry, I still didn't see how we got where we ended up. It's like we had a happy ending that we didn't deserve. We hadn't done enough work to get there. I can only think that some important scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. What a pity. The movie doesn't answer any of the questions it asks. It just tries to make you think it did.
I did enjoy this movie though and a big part of that is because of the acting of the young star, Grant Davidson. What a great little actor he is. He does a brilliant job in conveying so much of the emotion that his character feels and the issues he is struggling with. He gave a performance well past his years. He did struggle with some of the more emotional scenes, but hey, this is his first movie and he is only going to get better. I hope some other director or producer sees this movie and puts this young man in something more befitting his skills. I look forward to seeing that. Sadly, young Mr Davidson was one of the few good actors in this film. Many of the others were pretty cringe worthy - adults and kids.
In summary would I recommend this flick? Yes, I think I would. I liked it. It wasn't great, but it was tolerable and I've seen lots worse. The credit for all that is good about it lies, mostly, at the feet of the young star.
