Letters to God

Tyler is eight and being treated for cancer. The chemotherapy goes on, his hair has fallen out and he is mocked at school. Every day he writes a letter to God and puts it in the postbox. The letters go nowhere; the postman does not know what to do with them. Brady, the postman for the neighbourhood, is in disorder himself: he has a drinking problem, cannot see his son and is barely holding his job. He does not throw the letters away. He starts reading them. In time other people in the neighbourhood learn about them. David Nixon directs. Tanner Maguire, Jeffrey Johnson, Robyn Lively and Bailee Madison are in the cast. It is an American production. The story rests on a real child; Patrick Doughtie, one of the writers, described his own son's illness and the letters he wrote. The film was made openly for a Christian audience and released through independent distribution. The matter it treats is not faith but faith passing to others; the letters change not Tyler but those around him. The narrative does not soften the illness; the treatment scenes are shown. Its strongest side is the work of the child actors. Its limit is the script; the dialogue is explanatory, the supporting characters are types and the emotional steering high. Another limit is register; the music barely ever stops. Who it is for: viewers who like family drama grounded in faith. Who it is not for: the emotional pressure is heavy, the narrative predictable, and the subject hard.