The Other Side of Heaven 2: Fire of Faith 2019

     This film is based on the memoirs of Mormon missionary Elder John H. Groberg.  He returns to Tonga in the 1960’s with his wife and their five young daughters.  He had previously been to Tonga but not with his family.  He is the President of the Tonga-Fiji Mission.  They have a sixth child on Tonga and it is a son!!  The baby is born with a serious illness and the medical community on Tonga doesn’t have the resources to treat him.  The baby is only saved by a miracle and this breaks down the religious strife in this area.  There is tension between the Church of the Latter Day Saints and the Protestant churchgoers.  They disagree with each other and they are prejudiced against the Mormons.  

     Many non-Tongans portray the Tongan Islanders.  A miniature was used for certain wide shots of the boat during the storm scene.  The storm is pictured much worse that it would actually be??  In the original, Anne Hathaway was in the role played by Natalie Medlock as Jean Groberg.  It was felt that Hataway would be too expensive for their budget.  One drawback for this film is that there are a lot of extremes.  The storm, the score, the pouring of emotions could use more subtlety and that would be welcome!!  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)      

117 min, Adventure directed and written by Mitch Davis with Christopher Gorham, Natalie Medlock, Ben Baker, Alex Tarrant, Nicole Whippy, Russell Dixon, Neil Amituanai, Christopher Auva’a, Salamo Bakani, Taylah Bentley, Anne Mare Betts, Lina Clare, Luck Doloi, Sima Draunidalo, Marama Dunn.

Note:  Imdb 5.1 out of 10 with 258 views, Rotten Tomatoes 71% with 7 critics 95% audience with 353 ratings, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen, age 10+, 3* positive, 3* role models, 2* violence, 1* sex, Roger Ebert 1 1/2*, Letterboxd 3.1* out of 5*, Amazon 4.8* out of 5* with 114 reviews.  

Special Note:  Filmed in New Zealand and Fiji.  This is a sequel to the previous movie The Other Side of Heaven 2001.  Mitch Davis said he was encouraged by John H. Groberg to make this film.  But, the sequel was not going to be made until they had the resources to replicate the scale of the original film.  The budget was a little under ten million dollars.  The filming was done in Fiji where the tax rebate was 47%.  The time setting is 10 years after the original film.  The Nuku’alofa Hospital is shown but in real life the hospital is called Vaiola Hospital.  Other films with Christopher Gorham are Reign of the Supermen, The Death of Superman, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Throne of Atlantis, War, Somebody’s Hero, The Ledge, Answer This!