Review of Saved by the Light

Eric Roberts gives a standout performance in the role of Dannion Brinkley- a cruel, angry, violent town bully living in Aiken, South Carolina in 1975. His life changes one night during a thunderstorm when he gets struck by a bolt of lightning while talking on the telephone. Declared clinically dead for 28 minutes, he has a near-death experience in which his soul leaves his body and goes through a "tunnel", emerging in Heaven. Confronted by beings of light as he refers to them, he relives all the violent episodes of his life in flashback and is made to experience the pain and hurt that he caused others from early childhood on. He hears God tell him that love is the answer and shortly thereafter revives while being taken to the hospital morgue on a gurney. Profoundly shaken and altered by this experience, he seeks to turn his life around and become a kinder, gentler person, while at the same time attempting to understand the new psychic abilities which the lightning strike appears to have bestowed upon him. This is a wonderful movie with a universal message to share about human kindness and compassion and redemption through God's love. I give it a 10 out of 10.