HOME BEYOND THE SUN

3 Stars – WHOLESOME

The struggle for the soul of China is experienced most painfully by her children. Attempting to lower the birthrate to a single child per family, parents long for a son. When a daughter is born, she is often abandoned to orphanages where she is called a “found forsaken.” In this officially atheistic nation, Christians are involved not only in financing the orphanages, but also in the adoption of these little girls into an American home, a “Home Beyond the Sun.”

Presenting the story more as a visual “Sunday School lesson” than a dramatic film, the story leaves us longing for the complexity of the real people involved in such a ministry as well as the Chinese people who live in China. Instead we are presented with caricatures of both the atheists and the Christians, the repentant and the transformed, the American and the Chinese. Yet, the film still communicates its purpose in touching our hearts for the orphaned people in our world and looking for God’s redemptive plan in all of our lives.

The central character is Jenna Williams (Melissa Ade), a young woman who comes to China to teach English to a school of privileged boys. Herself an abandoned child, Jenna had been adopted by a loving Christian family and raised with love. When her parents died in an automobile accident, her godfather, Pastor Dan Jones (Stan Coles) stepped in to provide love and guidance. He sets her up with the appointment in China even though the government knows Jenna is a “Bible-college student.”

Providentially, Jenna stumbles across the path of a small orphanage where Mei Ming (Mung-Ling Tsui) is in charge. Not recognizing the danger of the Communist government’s disapproval of Christian teaching, Jenna blatantly connects herself with the orphanage and places both Mei Ming and the children in danger.

Befriending eight-year old Chu Lee (Molly Sayers), who is the oldest girl in the orphanage, Jenna and Chu Lee begin a relationship that eventuates in an American adoption with a family Pastor Dan has known for many years. What is not known at first is that this family of four wants to adopt because years ago they had given up a daughter themselves because of a premarital pregnancy and their hearts long to love the daughter they lost. This is resolved in a way that clearly shows God’s hand in all of their lives.

Showing the interplay of God’s redemption of the sins of both American and Chinese people is an important message today. Though different in symptom and form, the sin-sick people, cultures and government are the canvas on which God is creating a work of redemption that is almost as obvious as this film suggests. Many people look back on a path on which the turns could not have been known without God’s guiding hand.

Discussion:

Many have experienced the sorrow and regret of giving up a child for adoption. Do you believe this would be lessened if we aborted the child instead, or does abortion create an even more pervasive regret?
Since the Chinese government made it illegal to teach Christianity to Chinese people, what do you believe Christians should do? Is it moral to disobey the laws of China when being an “English-Teacher” in their schools? Why or why not?
The surrender of Jenna to God’s guidance and risking her freedom to help Chu Lee come to America was a part of the plan within this film. Do you think in real life it would have worked out this way? What ingredients are necessary to know if you are following God’s guidance or your own desires?
The final solution in the film brings healing to both Jenna and the Johnson family that is “too good to be true.” Have you experienced such healing in your own life that is clearly “too good to be true” and reveals God’s hand in your life?

________________

Cinema In Focus is a social and spiritual movie commentary. Hal Conklin is former mayor of Santa Barbara and Denny Wayman is pastor of the Free Methodist Church. For more reviews: http://www.cinemainfocus.com.