The Five People You Meet in Heaven - 7 stars out of 10

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - 7 stars out of 10

“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” is a creative exploration of one man’s life and how it impacted others.  Mitch Albom’s interpretation of heaven tells the story of “Eddie Maintenance” and allows him to make peace with those whose lives he impacted and vice versa.  This creates an interesting flashback effect, showing us Eddie’s life through the perception of others instead of through his own perspective.  Jon Voigt brings life to Eddie and paints him out to be a lovable old grandpa and a hero from the start.  This empathy carries us from the beginning to the end of the film, even when we doubt his goodness.  There are very few indications that this is a made-for-tv movie.  Despite several obvious green screen moments, the low budget of the film never interferes with the amazing storytelling technique of Albom.  It does move slow at times, but it is worth it to get to the end.  The acting is excellent for a low budget film, particularly Michael Imperioli as the gruff Captain and the lovely Dagmara Dominczyk as Marguerite.  I also think that Ellen Burstyn was perfectly selected to narrate the film.  From the tough childhood to the beautiful love story and difficult realizations of Eddie, this story will take you through many strong emotions in a short amount of time.  I wouldn’t include this film in my list of “great” ones, but it certainly brings Albom’s story to life and causes us to reflect on which five people we may meet in Heaven someday.