You’re going to see a welcome torrent of patriotism next year, the 250th anniversary of America’s birth, after what has arguably been a half-century drought of it.

And if every flood starts with a single raindrop, the new film The American Miracle – Our Nation is No Accident is the first droplet of the coming deluge of devotion to country.

In theaters for just three days, June 9, 10 and 11 – unless the crowds happily warrant extended performances – the docudrama entertains, informs and inspires Americans to understand and love their country in ways many schools have sadly failed to do for decades.

Portraying the unmistakable hand of Providence in the colonies’ wholly implausible victory over the British, the film is a labor of love for author and legendary movie critic Michael Medved, whose book by the same name was sculpted for the screen by historical investigative filmmaker Tim Mahoney.

Indeed, Medved wrote the book for his country and his father – both of whom are considered miracles of birth.

And both miracles heavily involve Philadelphia, where Medved was born.

Raised in the cradle of freedom

“I wrote The American Miracle because I had become convinced, studying American history, that the country was different and special,” he tells The Heartlander.

“And because one of the messages that I got from my late father, beginning when I was a very little boy, was that it was impossible to understand our country and how our country had emerged out of really nothing to be this dominant feature in the world – to imagine that without what all of the Founders believed in, which was the idea of divine Providence.”

Medved’s father, who was perhaps miraculously born to a mother of 50 after his parents’ separate World War I-era migrations, made sure to expose his son to the condensed history lessons of Philadelphia: the Liberty Bell, the Benjamin Franklin Institute, nearby Valley Forge, and Independence Hall – where both the Declaration of Independence were debated and signed.

Medved had three of his previous books adapted onto the screen, but “without indicting anyone, that hasn’t worked out so well.” This time is completely different, he says – and, in fact, is a dream come true thanks to the work of longtime collaborator and friend Mahoney.

“The way that I imagined the events that I was describing in the book is the way that they turned up on screen – and some of it with very eerie specificity,” he says. “I’m enormously grateful for Tim.”

Both detective and director

Mahoney has made an indelible mark with his Patterns of Evidence documentary film series investigating the Bible’s credibility. He brought those same gumshoe sensibilities to The American Miracle – working hard not only to accurately translate Medved’s scholarly work, but also to interpret the era.

“The military outfits, uniforms, were all period-correct,” Mahoney tells The Heartlander – adding he was helped by leading historians such as James Gallagher, who’s worked on series such as John Adams and TURN, and collaborated with Steven Spielberg on Lincoln.

Mahoney himself meticulously drew a staggering 1,100 storyboards planning out each scene.

George Washington, played by widely celebrated re-enactor Daniel Shippey, assumes a central role in The American Miracle as he did with the founding. Mahoney recalls filming scenes in which Washington “is shot at and has bullet holes through his clothing; his hat is shot off; times when he falls into an icy river and survives; survives smallpox.

“He seems to have providential protection.”

Filming locations only added to the movie’s authenticity.

“We were able to gain access to Faneuil Hall,” Mahoney explains, “and then we were able to go to Mount Vernon and actually film inside George Washington’s house at George Washington’s desk for some scenes in the parlor with George, our actor Daniel Shippey, and his wife Kelly, playing Martha.”

Replacing guilt, grievance with gratitude

For The American Miracle, the result of all this is a dynamic, well-crafted docudrama featuring interviews with top historical scholars and dramatizations by some 90 actors that include such notables as Pat Boone and Kevin Sorbo (who play Thomas Jefferson at different stages in life), as well as about 300 extras.

Actor Richard Dreyfuss also appears – though not in an acting role, but as a citizen deeply concerned with the nation’s failure in recent decades to pass civic knowledge along to succeeding generations.

Medved calls Dreyfuss “a patriot, and somebody who has made a personal crusade on behalf of civics, teaching Americans about the Constitution and gratitude for America.

“Toward the end of the film, Richard gives a commentary about how we need to trust each other more as Americans, and we need to feel gratitude for this great, amazing country.

“And that really is the whole purpose of this project, is to replace this idea of guilt and grievance with an emphasis on gratitude, which can actually bring together even people who don’t agree politically.”

It’s that political divisiveness that Medved blames in large part for the lack of civics knowledge and teaching today.

“The political polarization has become so extreme that everything is political,” he says. “We try very hard to get around that in the movie.”

Rebuilding our civic infrastructure

Mahoney likewise laments the erosion of civics.

“I think there’s been an anti-American sentiment that wants to promote globalism,” he opines. “And I think what ends up happening is that people are tearing down America so they can try to replace it with something utopian or whatever.

“But I think you’ll see that the virtue of the Constitution, and the power of it, is what has drawn people from around the world to come to this nation.

“America’s system of government – we’ve had problems in the past, but it’s not because the system was wrong. It’s because people are flawed and they haven’t followed and obeyed the founding documents of the Declaration and the Constitution.

“The principles are good. It’s when we have failed to follow them when it hasn’t gone well.

“I think that it’s also up to parents not to leave our education to others, whether it’s the public schools or even church. We have to pass on our faith and our history.”

Medved and Mahoney both hope The American Miracle, and the “A-250” celebration it precedes, will help rebuild America’s decaying civic infrastructure.

Medved cites the renaissance in patriotism from the 1976 bicentennial and the “Morning in America” spirit that dawned under Reagan four years later. He dreams of a new day “where not everything is a battle, not everything is something that you contend with, that you don’t view every rival or political opponent as some kind of enemy that needs to be crushed.”

Film headed from screens to schools

The filmmakers also hope Americans cram theaters June 9, 10 and 11 and earn the movie more showings on the big screen. After that, it’s headed for the usual digital platforms, Blu-ray and DVD.

But Mahoney hopes the film also makes it into schools. In fact, he says they’re even going over the possibilities with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

“We’re going to create the curriculum for it. And we’re planning to continue to exhibit the film all over.”

Moreover, look for sequels.

“The goal is that we will make the rest of the story of God’s providential hand on America, and we’re going to make more films telling this story,” Mahoney says.

Leaving patriots in tears

Those who’ve already seen The American Miracle have reacted with visible emotion, Medved says.

“What really moves me is, toward the end of the film there are people in all of the preview audiences we’ve had who are crying – crying because of the force of some of what is being said on screen.”

It’s the same feeling Medved comes away with even after nearly two dozen viewings of 1939’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which he calls the best movie ever made.

“Michael Medved has always felt that people need to be thankful for America,” Mahoney says, “and I think that that is absolutely correct. We have been given a great inheritance of freedom. And this film shows, as well, that our freedoms actually originated not with ideals from other parts of the world as much as from the Book of Genesis.

Genesis of a new American miracle? 

“It’s that we were made in the image of God, and from that He created us to be free. And so, that’s why we hold these truths self-evident – that we are people that are endowed by our Creator with certain rights.

“What I hope people will come away with is understanding that the structure that we have as our government is based much upon understandings that we get from the Book of Genesis and that we should not walk away from God at all.

“There’s a strong emphasis in this film that God has given us our freedoms, and if we walk away from Him, America will not be the nation that it was created to be – one nation under God.

“This film I believe – I would hope – would encourage people to understand the basic premises of why we are a people, and what keeps us together. What constitutes us is this Constitution. And this Constitution is based upon, I believe, biblical principles.”