In the 1950s, Elder John Groberg leaves his girlfriend and travels to Tonga to serve an LDS mission. There he encounters persecution, a foreign language and culture, a hurricane, a shipwreck, and a host of mosquitoes.
From the cover: "Walt Disney Home Entertainment presents The Other Side of Heaven, a thrilling and epic adventure starring Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries) and Christopher Gorham (TV's Felicity). When 19-year-old John Grober (Gorham) is sent on a three-year mission to Tonga, he has no idea what he's getting into. In fact, just getting to Tonga is fraught with danger and unbelievable obstacles. Once there, he finds himself in the midst of a culture as remote to him as the island is to his Idaho Falls home. Not understanding the language and lonely for the girl he left behind, Jean (Hathaway), John faces suspicion, distrust, typhoons, tidal waves, mosquitoes and other perils of man and nature as he reaches out to the people of Tonga. Filled with adventure, breathtaking scenery and humor, The Other Side of Heaven is a coming-of-age film your whole family will enjoy."
See Mormon Film: Key Films of the Fifth Wave
This is the first major post-God's Army film not by Richard Dutcher, and it is the first such film adapted from a literary source. Produced independently, it was distributed in theaters and on video by Disney; Excel Entertainment Group served as a subcontractor in this process.
Based on the memoirs "In the eye of the storm" by John H. Groberg.
Christopher Gorham - Elder John Grober; Anne Hathaway - Jean Sabin; Joe Folau - Feki; Nathaniel Lees - Kelepi; Alvin Fitisemanu - Tomasi; Miriama Smith - Lavania; Peter Sa'ena Brown - Kuli; Whetu Fala - Asi; Apii McKinley - Noli; Paki Cherrington - Minister; Gerald Molen - Mission President