This article brought to you by Lake Gregory Recreation and Top Producers Realty
By Nathan Hurlbut
It really is a remarkable true story. During the winter of 2015, 14-year-old John Smith fell through the ice on Lake Saint Louise in Missouri. He was underwater for fifteen minutes before rescuers pulled him out of the icy depths. They quickly found that John wasn’t breathing and had no pulse, and he was immediately rushed to the local hospital. Upon arrival, they performed CPR on him for almost a half-hour before John was proclaimed dead by the doctors.
As the story goes, John’s mother Joyce then came to his side, praying for his recovery, and suddenly John managed to regain a weak pulse. Miraculously, John’s condition continued to improve after many doctors had assumed he wouldn’t survive his first night in the hospital.
A true-life story like this certainly makes for compelling drama, and John’s mother Joyce, along with Ginger Kolbaba, wrote a book about the account called The Impossible: The Miraculous Story of a Mother’s Faith and Her Child’s Resurrection. The book serves as a testament to Joyce’s faith, and has now been adapted into the film “Breakthrough,” directed by television veteran Roxann Dawson.
As you can imagine, with Joyce Smith serving as the source book’s author, the entire film is filtered through her perspective. As a result, it becomes an inspirational tale of someone’s faith in God’s ability to come to someone’s aid in times of distress.
Whether you believe, as Joyce does, that the power of prayer is what saved her son’s life is certainly open to personal interpretation. However, the inspiring part of the story is how her faith gave her the strength to remain positive about her son’s recovery rather than giving over to despair. It’s this aspect of her faith that remains the most powerful throughout the film.
As remarkable as this true-life story is, though, the film’s story suffers in comparison. It’s the kind of tale that unfolds pretty much in the way you expect, and that’s not just due to the fact that we already know much of the story ahead of time.
For example, early on, Joyce takes an immediate dislike to Pastor Jason Noble’s (Topher Grace) unconventional nature. Yet, it would be a fool’s bet not to realize that her animosity will eventually melt away into appreciation for his support once times become tough.
Meanwhile, moments like an overly rehearsed musical vigil outside John’s hospital window are contrived and strain the film’s credibility. It exposes the film’s frequent desire to coast by on a scene’s emotional impact rather than create a plausible representation of events.
Fortunately, though, the movie also refuses to idealize Joyce’s character (which, considering the book was written by the real-life Joyce Smith, would be an understandable transgression). Joyce (Christine Metz) finds she must confront the fact that her overbearing nature is alienating the very people that are praying for John’s recovery. Joyce comes to realize that John’s fate truly is beyond her control, and she must surrender her controlling nature for the best of everyone. Christine Metz’s multi-layered performance manages to acknowledge her character’s flaws while simultaneously retaining our sympathies. In fact, it would take a heart of stone not to be moved by Joyce’s struggle to remain steadfastly by her son’s side during his darkest hour.
Meanwhile, perhaps the film’s most memorable character is Pastor Jason Noble, as Topher Grace brings an atypical notion of a church leader to life. His welcome doses of humor provide relief in an understandably serious film, and Grace shows a deft facility in shifting gears into delivering thoughtfully earnest messages of hope.
It’s typical of the film’s uniformly excellent cast, as Dennis Haysbert brings a compassionate degree of gravitas to his role of Dr. Garrett, while Josh Lucas remains convincingly flawed as Joyce’s husband Brian.
In the end, “Breakthrough” serves best as a litmus test for one’s own attitude towards religion in general. If, like Joyce, you find your religious beliefs to be a source of power and strength, then the movie will be an inspiring tale of how a person’s faith can impact and change their life. If you’re a skeptic, it may be seen as one woman’s attempt to impose those beliefs onto a remarkable course of events. Either way, there’s no denying the movie’s inspirational message even as it inevitably proves to be preaching to the converted.