ALOFT

ALOFT tells the story of a struggling single mother of two, Nana Kunning, who encounters her son, Ivan, whom she abandoned 20 years earlier to pursue a form of pagan spirituality.

After the death of her younger son, Gully, who accidentally drowned in a frozen lake, Nana leaves her older son, Ivan, who struggles with guilt over his brother’s death, with her father to pursue a newly discovered healing ability in the wilderness. Twenty years later, a French journalist, Jannia Ressmore, recruits Ivan, an expert on eagles, to travel to Antarctica to reunite and interview his long lost mother for a documentary.

Although ALOFT contains a very dangerous pagan worldview, its artistic and aesthetic value is extremely high. The narrative is complex, and the acting is excellent. However, the narrative isn’t presented chronologically, but rather told in an irregular manner, going back and forth between present and past events. This irregular manner of presenting the story challenges the audience to keep up with the story and to pay attention to detail.

That said, the outstanding acting deserves proper praise. Each actor was successfully able to communicate his or her character’s emotional and psychological state throughout the movie.

Sadly, ALOFT promotes a pagan worldview. This worldview is predominately seen in the female protagonist, Nana. Nana begins to participate in some kind of weird spirituality and natural healing after meeting Newman, a famous “natural” healer. It’s not explicitly stated in the movie, but the type of spirituality and natural healing that Nana practices is similar to that practiced by some Native Americans. As such, it seems pantheistic rather than monotheistic. Nature and the individual are godlike and, hence, the answer to physical ailments.

Consequently, Nana forsakes her child in order to pursue her pagan idolatry. Sadly, she never acknowledges and repents from her sinful idolatry, even when she and her son, Ivan, encounter each other during the movie’s final scenes. However, the Word of God, in the Epistle to the Galatians, says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Overall, ALOFT is an entertaining drama, but the female protagonist engages in a weird, pantheistic spirituality promoting “natural” healing. Also, ALOFT contains a graphic sex scene and strong foul language. Therefore, MOVIEGUIDE® finds the movie unacceptable. Media-wise viewers, especially Christian viewers, will want to avoid going ALOFT.