Angus Benfield wears many hats in this faith-based film. He is screenwriter (from a book by Alan Duprey), director and lead actor. He turns out to be a better writer and director than he is an actor. Its a good thing that his co-stars including a cameo by Eric Roberts, are much more engaging on-screen.
Benfield plays Jonathan Stone, a 40-something year old EMT, who is good at his job. Even though he isn’t a demonstrative guy, we do see him responding with care and efficiency to a number of accidents and tragedies. His wife, Elizabeth (Michelle Fozounmayeh) is undergoing chemotherapy, and she is a expressive and warm woman. She would like her husband to change careers so he can stop working the night shift and spend more time with her, but he isn’t in any hurry to make a change.
The storyline goes back and forth between present day to when the two were dating during their 20’s, Michael Maclane and Brittany Mann play the younger couple. In fact, the jumping around takes away from the flow of the film.
Elizabeth is praying for a miracle, although concerned that a decision that she and Jonathan made years before isn’t the reason for her cancer.
Throughout the film, Jonathan has visions of what Heaven would be like. Its beautiful and peaceful and filled with friends, family, co-workers, people from his church and people he’s encountering for the first time.
Heaven wants to portray a positive message of life after death, and although it would have been much smoother story if they cut down on the changing time frames, the film still does the job.