The Other Side Of Heaven

Young Mormon missionary John Groberg (played with relentless optimism by Christopher Gorman) is the key player in this sincere but sugary retelling of his real-life 1950’s South Sea adventures in the Kingdom of Tonga. The Idaho farm boy and trumpeter writes back home often to his girlfriend (The Princess Diaries’ Anne Hathaway) while spreading messages about the importance of community service, eternal love and the Word of God. He and his islander neighbors are also threatened by rats that gnaw on bare human feet at night, storms, injury, illness and starvation in an exotic, episodic family film whose sunsets and special effects at times dwarf its character development and thematic depth. Based on Groberg’s memoir, In the Eye of the Storm. Written and directed by Mitch Davis.