Heaven is Real

Colton says he experienced Heaven during an emergency surgery. He describes to his incredulous family about having seen the surgeon operating, his mother calling people in the waiting room to pray, and his father in another room yelling at God to not let him die. He also speaks of incidents with people he never met or knew about: Colton speaks about his experiences in Heaven, and Todd is faced with the dilemma of determining the legitimacy of his son's experience.

Todd's wariness about discussing the situation erodes the confidence of the board members of his church, and he is contacted by several members of the media. When Todd is called by a radio station for an impromptu on-air interview, he invites them to attend his sermon the following Sunday. At church, he preaches about his son's experiences and reveals his support for him. Following the events at the church, Todd is doing research on the Internet and finds a story about a Lithuanian girl who had a similar experience.

Her recall of Jesus was identical to that of Colton. Todd tries to speak to Colton further about the experience but he is interrupted by his wife revealing that she is pregnant with another child. Photos of Colton and his family are shown in the present day. It was announced that Joe Roth would be producing the film with T. On March 19, , it was announced that Greg Kinnear was in talks to star, and he later joined the cast. On July 17, it was reported that composer Nick Glennie-Smith would score the film, [11] and behind the scenes, the director of photography was Dean Semler.

Shooting began in the last week of July in Selkirk , Manitoba. The film was released on April 16, and held a 3, theater count through its 4th week. Heaven Is for Real received mixed reviews. The site's consensus states, " Heaven Is for Real boasts a well-written screenplay and a talented cast, but overextends itself with heavy-handed sequences depicting concepts it could have trusted the audience to take on faith.

Jeb Lund, a columnist for The Guardian , [18] expressed skepticism about the depiction of the story in the film. The red markers which Colton Burpo claims Jesus had on his hands and feet are well known. The boy could have easily guessed his minister father would have been praying or nursing staff could have told him. When Colton remembered things his parents claimed they had not told him, other people may have told Colton or his parents and may have forgotten. Also, young children sometimes have trouble telling dreams from reality and can be coached. The family's main source of income was an overhead garage door business that Todd operated.

He also served as a volunteer fireman and high school wrestling coach. The Burpos are Protestants.

One of the major differences between Protestants and Catholics, for example, is that Protestants deny the universal authority of the Pope, and they see the Bible as the only source of revealed truth. Initially, the local doctor at the hospital in the Burpo's hometown of Imperial, Nebraska ruled out appendicitis. After waiting for Colton's condition to improve, his father, Pastor Todd Burpo, recognized the shadow of death on Colton's face. He had seen that look before when visiting the sick in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.

With Colton's condition deteriorating and the doctors still puzzled, Todd and his wife Sonja made the decision to take Colton to the Great Plains Regional Medical Center, which was ninety minutes away in North Platte, Nebraska. A CT scan quickly revealed the problem, a burst appendix. It also meant that poisonous discharge had been filling Colton's belly for five days.

Actor Rob Moran left , who portrays the surgeon in the movie, and the real Dr. Timothy O'Holleran right who operated on Colton Burpo. After assessing the situation, the hospital staff knew Colton's condition was bad. In the book, Colton's father writes that Dr. Timothy O'Holleran pictured said, "He's not in good shape. We've got to go in and clean him out. We'll know more when we open him up.

The true story behind the Heaven is for Real movie reveals that it was around this point in time that a nurse offered a few words in private, explaining to Todd that the doctors and nurses had expected Colton Burpo to die. The nurse told Todd that the doctors had told them not to offer his family any encouragement, because they didn't think his son was going to make it. She stressed that when the doctors say someone isn't going to make it, they don't. After witnessing Colton's sudden turnaround, the nurse said that she believed it had to be a miracle. Like in the movie, Colton's heart never actually stopped beating.

But he never did technically just flatline. Todd Burpo with his son Colton on his shoulders in November , 8 months after Colton's emergency surgery. The photo used for the book's cover. Yes, but it wasn't in the hospital chapel like in the movie. I just, [was] frustrated, fed up. I remember telling him, 'God, after all I've done for ya, and now you're going to take my kid.

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This is how you treat your pastors? The real Colton Burpo was in the hospital for much longer than the movie implies. Following two surgeries at Great Plains to clean the poison and infection out of his abdomen and a bowel complication, he was finally discharged on Wednesday, March 19, after approximately sixteen days. The realization came four months after the surgery. I tried to reason away what he was saying, but the scene where he said he saw me yelling at God and his mom in another room, he nailed all that first. That was the first thing to us.

Yes, the Heaven is for Real true story reveals that, like in the movie, the real Colton Burpo told his dad that he had met and stayed with Pop his great-grandfather on Todd's mother's side while he was in Heaven. Pop pictured below , whose real name was Lawrence Barber, died in July from a car accident when Todd was around six-years-old. Todd had been close to his grandfather since he had often stayed with his grandparents when his mother attempted to shield him from his own father's bipolar disorder, which sometimes required hospital stays.

Pop was only sixty-one years old when he passed away. A photo of the real Pop shortly before his death, and the photo of Pop at age 29, the one that Colton recognized him in.

Yes, and like in the movie, he recognized Pop only after Todd showed him a photo from when Pop was younger pictured above , because as Colton told his father, nobody's old in Heaven and nobody wears glasses. Now, when I was younger I wasn't really the hugging type, so I was just sitting here, 'Okay, who are you? Why are you touching me? Colton's parents, Todd and Sonja, claim that they never told their son about his miscarried sister, who they lost before Colton was born.

Sonja Burpo had miscarried on June 20, when she was pregnant with her second child.

Heaven is for Real (2014)

Like in the movie, Colton's mother, Sonja Burpo, only discovered that the miscarried baby was a girl after Colton told her that he saw his sister in Heaven. At the time of the miscarriage, Sonja was two months along. Colton described his sister in Heaven as looking like his older sister Cassie but with dark hair and a bit smaller. In researching the Heaven is for Real true story, we discovered that Cassie, Colton's older sister, did know about her mother's miscarried baby prior to Colton's ruptured appendix.

Though Thomas Haden Church's character, Jay Wilkins, is largely fictional, he most closely resembles Todd's good friend Phil Harris in the book a loose connection at best. For the most part, no. Jay Wilkins Thomas Haden Church , who is Todd Burpo's close friend and a fellow volunteer firefighter in the movie, is not based on any one individual.

There is no one named Jay Wilkins in the book. The character is at best a loose composite of various friends and acquaintances in the real Todd Burpo's life. This includes fellow volunteer firefighters and pastoral acquaintances like the Burpos close friend Phil Harris, who along with his wife Betty Lou, are the district superintendents of the Wesleyan Church the movie depicts Thomas Haden's character as being a local bank president and a board member at the church.

The Burpos stayed with Phil and Betty Lou for a night at their home in Greeley, Colorado, shortly after Colton's condition took a turn for the worse and prior to heading back to Imperial, Nebraska. As evidenced by the book, Colton did not visit the bedside of a dying boy in order to give him comfort. He did accompany his father Todd to a nursing home to visit a dying man named Harold Greer and his family.

However, in the movie, this visit takes place before the surgery, not after it like in the book. During the actual visit, Colton approached the man's bedside, much like he does the boy's in the movie, and told the man that everything was going to be okay and that the first person he'll see in Heaven is Jesus. Todd states that it was at that point that he realized that his son had become a messenger.

Actress Margo Martindale's character, Nancy Rawling, is fictitious and does not appear in the book. In the movie, the character finds hope through a Colton-inspired vision of her son in Heaven. Pastor Todd Burpo Greg Kinnear provides her comfort by explaining to her that if his son was welcomed into Heaven, then her son had to be in Heaven as well since God loves him just as much.

Heaven Is for Real (film) - Wikipedia

In the book, Todd instead offers this explanation to a woman whose daughter had been stillborn. Todd Burpo says that they spent three years showing Colton pictures of Jesus, and it wasn't until Colton saw Akiane Kramarik's painting of Jesus, titled Prince of Peace: The Resurrection pictured below , that Colton said, "This one's right. Her work sells for thousands of dollars. She says that her inspiration comes from God and her visits to Heaven.

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Inspired by God and her visits to Heaven, Akiane Kramarik right painted this portrait of Jesus left when she was only 8-years-old. Colton Burpo recognized it as the Jesus he too saw in Heaven. Colton's father, Todd Burpo, says that he asked his son this very question. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network , Colton responded in his own words. The real Colton Burpo supposedly told his father that he was in Heaven for three minutes.