The Healing Garden

Regardless of your situation, griefs / hopes / beliefs, this movie is worthwhile because it is fundamentally about embracing difficulties and putting focus into something good - for example, the garden. The kid is called Hope, and weirdly, after watching this, I was in my yard happy to see the struggling plants showing signs of renewal when a neighbour's sales slip blew into my yard with the phrase 'Hope is all you need'.

I enjoyed this film for the performance by Danny Michael Mann with his care-worn features. At the beginning we see his Eddie Nichols character has lost his wife and is in despair. He's also been driven into poverty through medical bills for his late wife. As a result he has to move to a home park site full of grumpy neighbors which should have deflated him for good. But he is a firmly religious man who manages to keep his faith alive after the passing of his wife. He makes friends with a little girl who is finding life difficult at home after losing her father. Eddie spends his days trying to energise a waste piece of land into a fertile healing site. We see him change from a person with attitude to one who has a jokey way of telling Bible stories to the little girl. It appears to be a film about making choices with it's message relayed with good humor. It's light comic feel had me quietly chuckling for the most part but there are some poignant scenes too. So it's a likeable faith film that I think people just looking for a family movie will enjoy as well.

I am not religious but rather spiritual. I've watched a lot of very well done movies which emphasize the topic of God/Jesus. I enjoyed watching them because of their deeper message and the fact that they don't push you or try to convert you. For me, The healing garden is once more one of those movies, that lifts you up in a beautiful way. And you don't have to be religious or believe in a God to enjoy it and gain from it emotionally. It is just beautiful in every way and you will feel enriched after watching it.

A former military chaplain is broke and struggling to cope after the death of his wife. He moves to a small community where everyone has their own special problems. There he regains a strong sense of an ever present God when he embarks on turning a piece of wasteland into a healing garden. This is a film that grows on you as it progresses. The little girl, Hope, who takes an interest in the chaplain and his garden project, gives an amazing performance.