Movie Reviews: "As It Is In Heaven"

It’s rare to find a movie that demands an opinion without also handing one out ready-made… especially when said movie is centered around the ever-weighty topic of religion. But if ever there was such a movie, it’s As It Is In Heaven: a film as soft-spoken and hard to find as its characters.

The story centers around an old farmhouse somewhere in the American south, where Prophet Edward has long taught his small religious movement that Judgement Day is coming… and now it’s almost here. But with less than a month to go, disaster strikes and Edward on his deathbed must name a successor… one that will prepare his flock for the end of the world in a way that he never could.

Recent convert David must take up the burden of leadership and endure the suspicions of the Prophet’s own son, all the while hoping to keep himself and his followers pure and disciplined for the Lord’s return. What follows is perhaps only to be expected, but that makes it no less striking as the cult drifts down from euphoria to dissent, then to madness before the thirtieth day is nigh.

This vivid mosaic of Kentucky landscapes and religious theology weaves a vivid, empathetic narrative that is both compelling and complex. It not only causes audience-members to examine their own faith, but also to witness how a faith that's almost all-true can turn to corruption in disguise if tainted by the tiniest of lies. Those viewers who don’t know the foundation of their own beliefs may be shaken, and those who do have a firm knowledge of their own faith will hopefully be made wiser for the watching. As someone who studied under director Joshua Overbay as a student of both film and faith, it was a privilege for me to attend what I knew was one of his most precious projects while at Asbury University.

As It Is In Heaven is powerful and controversial, treading carefully on the subjects of religion and judgement that man has struggled with for centuries… but for all that this movie touches on, in the end it is we who must choose whether to condemn or to pity the characters, for the film has not stepped in to make that decision for us. And in the same way, we must then choose to step outside of the theatre and decide where we shall go in our own life decisions… whether we ignore ancient superstitions, or dare to trust in some strange, provident Being watching over us. For what is at stake for us if we are wrong?