I hardly ever go to movies. That isn’t a boast, just a brief detail about how I choose to spend my time. I’ve seen some movies that I enjoyed and I understand the power of the media to tell a story. But for the most part, I find it much easier to suspend disbelief and get into a story when reading a novel. There is something about the setting of a movie theatre and the tendency of American movies to be filled with fantastic special effects and annoying product placements that gets my mind to wandering. Instead of getting into the story on the screen, I have a tendency to turn into a critic, aware of how the entire process is made up and, to me, fake.

So if you love movies, you should solicit someone else’s opinion. I really don’t know what I am talking about when it comes to movies. I read reviews and then decide not to go to the movie after all. I think that people who actually watch movies might be a better source of information about them than I.

But people ask me my opinion about movies all the time. I think it is because they assume that I must watch as many movies as a typical person my age in this community. Most of the time I simply admit that I haven’t seen the movie. Occasionally, when I am asked often enough, I go to the movie and watch it. When I do, I am usually disappointed and find myself in an even more difficult situation. Then when someone asks my opinion of a movie that was deeply meaningful to them I respond with less enthusiasm and probably a bit of skepticism. Sometimes it is better for a person who loves a movie to hear that I haven’t seen it than to hear my criticism of a movie they enjoyed.

One of the movies I have been asked about a great deal lately is the Sony release, “Heaven is for Real.” I haven’t seen the movie and I am not particularly eager to see it, but several people have asked me what I think about it.

Here are a few things that I know. A four-years-old boy in Nebraska had emergency surgery and during his surgery he had a near death experience that was very real to him. In the months following his surgery, he had many conversations with his dad about what had happened. He was able to describe his experience with enough detail and clarity to inspire his father. Of special interest to his father were details such as the description of a great grandfather who died 30 years before the boy was born, that the child had not known before his experience.

I have no reason to doubt that what happened to the boy was a genuine religious experience. His reporting his experience to his father also was likely a genuine religious experience for the father. I suspect that the experiences of son and father might have inspired many people had they told the story first hand and then perhaps the father fashioned a sermon or two in which he told the story and reflected upon it.

But that isn’t what happened. I don’t know the process that occurred for sure, but somehow, probably through the publisher Thomas Nelson, a company that is owned by Word, Inc. a conglomerate of companies that is expert in marketing to conservative Christian audiences, the father got together with Lynn Vincent, a professional writer who published a New York Times best selling book in 2008 and has been for years a “go to” co-author for conservative writers. There is no small amount of partisan politics and bias in here writing. She has a point of view and she expresses it.

The co-authored book was an immediate commercial success. It went to the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. It spawned a host of related products, including children’s books, computer applications, and spectacular stadium events. It produced a lot of profit quickly and some of the profits were invested in ancillary products and activities that in turn were successful.

Sony motion pictures knows a good thing when they see it and they paid a lot of money to obtain the rights to make a movie based on the book. The movie was released in mid-April and has been a box office success. A movie edition of the book is selling well, with pictures from the film illustrating the original co-authored text.

Again, I haven’t seen the movie, but I have read that Sony did a great job of product placement, having the little boy in the movie emotionally attached to his Spiderman toy.

To summarize. A child has a genuine experience. He tells his story to his father, whose own faith is strengthened and expanded by sharing his son’s experience. The father writes up his experiences and submits the book to a publisher. The publisher senses potential profit and hires a successful professional author to re-write the story into a best-selling book. The book is picked up by a movie studio that knows how to make money and they work their magic on it. It is all successful. The story reaches an audience that is far bigger than a four-year-old’s report could have otherwise reached.

But I can’t help but wonder if anything in the movie bears the slightest resemblance to the actual experiences of the boy. Would the boy even recognize himself and his experience in the movie? Will he even be able to tell as an adult which had the greater impact on him: his surgical experiences, or the wealth that followed?

Of course those questions aren’t for me to answer. I tend to be a bit immune to the emotional impact of movies and I am a bit too skeptical to be a good movie critic.

Heaven is for real. I’ve got no argument with that. But I’m not sure that the way heaven is portrayed in the movie has any connection to the reality of God’s love that never dies. I wonder if it has any connection to the experiences of the boy whose story it purports to tell. I hope that those who find the movie inspiring discover a faith that is deeper than momentary emotional manipulation.

I guess I’m just more inspired by the stories of the people I meet than I am by a multi-million dollar box office sensation.

But you really shouldn’t turn to me for advice on which movies to see.

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