Review: The Healer

The Healer is a fantasy about a man with the power to heal people simply by being around them. This film is streaming on Netflix.

The Healer is partly a standard Christian-driven production about how believing in God and wanting to do good can create miracles. But it’s also an homage to Paul Newman and the Hole in the Wall Camps for seriously ill children.

Alec (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) learns just before his 30th birthday that he is descended from a long line of healers. He’s a big mess and wants nothing to do with being a healer. His Uncle Raymond (Jonathan Pryce) offers to pay all his debts if Alec goes to Nova Scotia for a year.

Waiting in Nova Scotia is the local vet Cecilia (Camilla Luddington) and a whole bunch of people wanting to be healed.

He turns his back on all of them and “refuses” his healing ability. Then he meets young cancer patient Abigail (Kaitlyn Bernard) and changes his mind.

The story of his conversion from a non-believer to a believer is the crux of the film. I don’t usually like stories that promote a Christian message, but this one is definitely topical. So many people in the world right now who profess to be Christian are full of hate, not healing. If they were converted to the true meaning of love and caring, the world would indeed be filled with miraculous healing.

The Healer is bright, full of light and love, and beautifully filmed. After the credits begin to roll, we see a lengthy homage to “healer” Paul Newman and the many kids who have attended his camps around the world. All the money the movie makes will go to Paul Newman Foundation for children with cancer.

If you want a feel-good movie about the miraculous in life, you will enjoy this one.

Here’s a look at the trailer.