By REY FLORES
I believe that most parents like myself have a constant concern or worry, even a fear that any harm should come to our children. Since they are babies, then toddlers, school-age, and eventually adults we never stop worrying about them. Ultimately, we have to trust God, knowing that He always has them in His hands. This movie, Breakthrough, is exactly about that.
In this film, we follow the story of a young man who we learn is adopted and has always had a sense of not belonging. These feelings aren’t manifested in him as much as they are in his adoptive parents’ desire to provide their son with as normal an upbringing as possible. Adopted or not, this is a young man with parents who love him very much.
Breakthrough is based on the true story of a family whose members are one day living life as well as possible, working and praying, with the son going to school and engaged in varsity sports. Then an accident changes everything.
The name of the film is quite clever, given how many “breakthroughs” happen in this story. There’s the one literal “breakthrough” where our young protagonist John, portrayed by actor Marcel Ruiz, and his friends foolishly play on a frozen Missouri lake with the worst imaginable consequences. While John’s two friends manage to get out of the lake fairly quickly, John sinks down and ends up having to be rescued after being submerged under water for 20 minutes.
Ruiz, who also played Alex Alvarez on the Netflix series One Day at a Time, manages to pull off what I believe is a difficult role for any actor, let alone one who is 15 years old. There’s the brooding adopted kid, the actual drowning scenes, the coma scenes, and everything that happens afterward which I don’t want to spoil for you.
The next “breakthrough” comes in the relationship between John’s mom Joyce Smith, played by Chrissy Metz, and the young pastor at their church. It seems that Pastor Jason Noble, played by That 70s Show veteran actor Topher Grace, is a little too “contemporary” and youth-driven in his attempts to engage more young people in his ministry. Joyce on the other hand is more traditional and prefers hymns to the modern pop and rap music Pastor Noble is bringing into the church.
Either way, in the face of tragedy, Pastor Noble and Joyce come to the realization that they are one family as a church and that they must be united in prayer and faith if a miracle is to happen.
Funny how God sometimes throws us these huge challenges in order for us to come together and realize that it is always about His will and never ours. If we put it all in His hands and treat each other as He commanded us, He will take care of everything as He sees most beneficial to our eternal souls.
As the days go by and an entire community rallies behind John and his family, doctors become more doubtful about any kind of recovery and start to prepare Joyce for what looks like the inevitability of losing her son for good.
I hope that as many of you as possible can go to see this movie. It makes a great story for viewers of all ages, bringing us lessons in suffering, hope, and faith, which is a timely release for this film during the Easter season.
The film was produced by DeVon Franklin who also produced the 2016 film Miracles From Heaven and was adapted for the screen by Grant Nieporte, based on Joyce Smith’s own book, Breakthrough.
Visit www.breakthroughmovie.com to view the trailer, and for theatres and showtimes to purchase your tickets in advance.
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