The true definition of a miracle is evident in the new Roxann Dawson movie, Breakthrough. Breakthrough is based on a true story of a miracle, that occurred to a young boy, John Smith, and this movie is a Christian movie that shows the evangelical look of this unique story.

This movie takes place in a small town on the outskirts of Missouri, where faith is a main part of this tight community. Although many similar, drowning, stories don’t end up the same way with a miracle, this one still followed the same path just not the same ending. In the movie they included numerous characters asking the overarching question, why does God let some people who are cared and loved die, but save others who are very similarly cared for and loved?

The story starts out with a religious, married couple, Joyce Smith and her husband Brian Smith(Josh Lucas). The couple traveled down to Guatemala where they met John (Marcel Ruiz) and soon later they adopted him. At the age of 14, John is a very involved in school, basketball, music, and friends, but struggles with kids who are bullying John because of his ethnicity. His mother, Joyce, also struggles with many problems as she is the Minister at the church. Her issues come along with her judgemental problems with the new pastor ,John Noble (Topher Grace) who is advocating to reach the younger generation to come to church. The way he dresses, his hair, and music choices at the church,with a rap artist at Worship are just some of the problems Joyce has with him. After a basketball game, John and two other friends are having a sleep over at one of the boy’s homes. In the morning, John and his friends decide to walk out on the ice and play around out there. After being warned multiple times to get off because of thin ice, they all fell in. After two of the boys got out, john plunged to the bottom of the lake. He was submerged for 15 minutes, before an atheist firefighter Tommy Shine(Mike Colter), heard a voice telling him exactly where to look, resulting in him finding john and pulling his body out of the lake. After arriving to the hospital and being shocked multiple times, John is pronounced dead. Shouting a prayer to God over her son, suddenly a faint heartbeat begins. While in a medically induced coma they fly him to another hospital to see a drowning specialist (Dennis Haysbert) who has oppositions about the condition of John’s Health. He suspects he won’t make it through the night.

The whole movie revolves around John struggling to live and get his health back. Through it all, Joyce still remains optimistic, and preach her faith because of how important that is for John at this moment in his life. But not many people have the same confident mindset that Joyce has. In the hospital some of the families closest friends and doctors are very pessimistic about his circumstances. Along with her husband who doesn’t come into the room till the last scenes of the movie, because he puts his faith in research instead of God.

This movie uses faith to display the importance and how much John’s health after this situation is a miracle. It shows how much strength and love comes from people who display their faith by praying and comforting the family. The three characters that used emotion and personal connection to the story is Joyce Smith, Brian Smith, and Pastor John. All three of these people used their personal connection to the storyline to help create the sense of hope and the aspiration of john’s situation. Like any mother in this situation Chrissy Metz demonstrates a mother’s love for their child and the hope they give to even the worst circumstances. She shows that not only is John fighting for his life but she is also fighting for his life. Along with this Josh Lucas does a very good job demonstrating how hard this is on a parent and how much of a toll it takes on your emotions. Pastor John does is a very good demonstration on emotional and personal connection because his job is to comfort those going through hardships and not only offer his support but to also connect with the family and help them fight through their problems. Throughout the whole movie he stays in the hospital with the family offering comfort. Through it all all the problems with each other are put aside and a bond is formed between their friendship.

My family alike this had a miracle that came on a a year ago in June. My brother, Trevor, broke down and had a seizure in Banana Republic with his girlfriend by his side. After being rushed to the hospital and thousands of tests had been done. They found a brain tumor on the right hemisphere of his brain. Through support from the community and close friends Trevor had the tumor removed and ended up having no chemo and radiation. Through it all my families’ faith and trust in God also made things more comforting.

If you are reading this and are not religious, or semi-religious,just listening to some of the miracles that people have walked through or walked alongside someone close to them, it's hard not to see the impact god has in your life and the plans he has in store for everyone. I would recommend this movie “Breakthrough”, to anyone because of the important values that occurs in it and the miracle that occurred underneath the water.