The Other Side Of Heaven

Description

Walt Disney Home Entertainment presents THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN, a thrilling and epic adventure starring Anne Hathaway (THE PRINCESS DIARIES) and Christopher Gorham (TV's FELICITY). When 19-year-old John Groberg (Gorham) is sent on a three-year mission to Tonga, he has no idea what he's getting into. Just getting to Tonga is fraught with danger and unbelievable obstacles. Once there, he finds himself in the midst of a culture as remote to him as the island is to his Idaho Falls home. Not understanding the language, and lonely for his fiancee Jean (Hathaway), John faces suspicion, distrust, typhoons, tidal waves, mosquitoes, and other perils of man and nature as he reaches out to the people of Tonga. Filled with adventure, breathtaking scenery, and humor, THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN is a coming-of-age film your whole family will enjoy.

Amazon.com

A half-century after the real John Groberg left Idaho to serve a three-year mission in Tonga, actor Christopher Gorham (A Life Less Ordinary) gracefully slips into the Mormon Elder's shoes in The Other Side of Heaven. A gifted cross between Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, Gorham effortlessly carries this touching story of a young man's struggle to adapt and thrive in a completely foreign land. He may look like a bar of soap, standing in his suit and tie against the lush palms and shimmering waters of his new surroundings; but as daily island living hits Groberg with death, disease, and natural disaster, this missionary's determination and courage shine through. Heartfelt letters Gorham writes to his true love (sweetly portrayed by Anne Hathaway) and her candid replies underscore profound--or profoundly normal--events and impressions the two experience while apart. It's an uplifting, tear-invoking family drama that benefits even more from fine acting, artful direction, and an Academy Award-winning producer (Gerald R. Molen, Schindler's List). (Ages 10 and older) --Liane Thomas

Customer Reviews:

Interesting true story........2006-11-13

This movie is very good, done well, and the acting is fine, but the book is much, much, much better, one of my all-time favorites. And it's all true, by the way. I would like the DVD better if I hadn't read the book first, but now I don't care for the movie very much. There are many very important, thrilling events which took place during the 3 years of this missionary's assignment in the islands that are not in the movie. No time or room for everything, I guess. Disappointing. My advice would be to read the book first and then decide if you want to see the movie.

Great true story!!.......2006-08-11

This is a movie that you can watch over and over. It is full of excitement, love and real life... and I really appreciate missionaries who leave everything they have to share their believes with other people. I think that whenever you find the real True (GOD) in this life you want to share it with everyone you can and he did it.... I wish there were more movies like this that they leave you with something valuable.

Save your money.......2006-05-13

Movie starts with a narration -- always a VERY bad sign for any motion picture.

When the narrator intoned that his High School teacher announced that something "terrible" had happened at Hiroshima I lost all interest. If his teacher thought ending the war with Japan was "terrible", then she must have been hoping for him to die on the beaches of Honshu.

Either the narrator was lying or he was irretrievably stupid

Either way I lost interest in what was shaping up to be a really sappy film anyway.

Young Elder John Groberg becomes a missionary to Tonga.......2006-05-07

Writer-Director Mitch Davis was a Mormon missionary to Argentina in the 1970s, so it is not surprising that he would be attracted to the story of John Groberg, who left his home in Idaho Falls at the age of 19 to travel to the South Pacific achipelago of the Kingdom of Tonga for his three year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Davis's script is based on Elder Groberg's 1993 memoir, "In the Eye of the Storm," and the story that ends up on the screen is your basic stranger in a stranger land tale. Of course it takes place on a gorgeous island in the South Pacific, so there is exotic local. But while Grober is a Mormon missionary this film is largely a nondenominational tale of Christian missionary work (I wonder if that phrase is redundant or if there are non-Christian missionaries; obviously I consider Mormons to be Christians, and I understand some would debate the point, but I do not see how such a disticntion matters to this film).

We are introduced to young John Groberg (Christopher Gorham) he is playing trumpet at a swing party at Brigham Young University watching his girl, Jean Sabin (Anne Hathaway), dancing with some other guy. So John finishes his trumpet solo, puts down his horn, and jumps down to do some serious rug cutting with Jean. She is the rock he will be leaving behind, although the exact nature of their understanding is unclear, and despite the fact that is will take months for them to exchange letters. That is how long it takes Groberg to get to his post on the island of Niuatoputap (pay attention to the lines he draws on the map to pick up on how he really does take the long way round). Groberg is accompanied by Feki (Joseph Folau), who can help translate for the young missionary and save him from some embarassment over what is being said about him and what he is saying in his first speech in the native language.

There are problems to overcome and not just in terms of the language (this is one of those films where as soon as the main character learns the native tongue everybody starts speaking English). The island already has a minister who warns the people against listening to the missionary and it turns out that sleeping with your feet uncovered is not a good idea. Of course, Groberg will win over the natives, and we are not surprised that they make as big of an impression on them (the title of the film indicates as much). But not as much of the film is about Groberg's missionary work as you might think (the key moment comes when he finally gets checked up on and is berated because he has not done the proper paperwork for baptizing people and buidling churches). A lot of it has to do with trying to survive hurricanes and shipwrecks, not to mention some local customs that serve to remind how much of a different world he is living in now. The letters back and forth between John and Jean are not as much as I anticipated, but we do appreciate how she is his rock and that heaven is not just returning to her to live happily ever after. It is getting her to live with him in paradise.

"the other side of heaven".......2006-02-06

This movie is bad. Not only does it improperly portray Polynesians as waiting for a Christian God to save them, but it completely neglects the fact that Polynesians had a functioning culture before Christianity came to the islands. This movie only epitomizes colonial views and therefore is just an old world perspective of the world. If you do watch this movie be prepared for a very one sided view.

Average customer rating:

The Legend of Johnny Lingo

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B000ABAN5G

Product Description

LDS Classic 2 disc edition. From the producers of "The Other Side of Heaven"

DVD:

DVD

DVD