Soul on Fire Movie

So, think you've got problems? An exploding gasoline can gave nine-year-old John O'Leary burns over 100 percent of his body, mostly third-degree, leaving little survival chance. Doctors amputated all his fingers. He recovered, graduated university, married, raised a family, and now travels the world encouraging large audiences to find hope and purpose through their suffering. Sony's new movie tells his story.

"John O'Leary's life is not just inspiring — it's transformative," observes director Sean McNamara (Reagan, Soul Surfer). "As a filmmaker, I was drawn to the raw truth and unshakable hope in his journey. Soul On Fire is about turning tragedy into purpose and discovering what's possible when love shows up in the hardest moments."

Cast includes Joel Courtney (Jesus Revolution), DeVon Franklin (Jesus Revolution>, Woodlawn), William H. Macy (Fargo, Marmaduke), John Corbett (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), and Masey McLain (The Baxters).

The movie, based on O'Leary's book On Fire, portrays poignant life lessons. "Everything beautiful and enriching in my life today was born through the tragedy of those flames," he affirms.

Star baseball encourager

Legendary baseball announcer Jack Buck becomes a chief encourager, visiting John in the hospital, later hosting him at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, and getting him autographed baseballs.

Love and faith influence John's life. After his injury, his mother told him, "You need to fight like you've never fought before. You need to take the hand of God, and you need to walk this journey with Him."

As an adult, he thanks "God, whom we credit with the miracle of not only my survival, but an incredible life…. It is our belief that God works through all things for a perfect purpose, that everything in the end is made new, and that even a terrible childhood fire is used for good."

Gratitude is essential

During the fire, John's sister Susan risked her life to return to their burning house multiple times to fetch cups of water to cool John's burned face and head. John writes, "Jesus reminds us, 'Greater love has no one than this: than to lay down one's life for one's friends.'"

O'Leary stresses gratitude as essential for successful coping. As the film also portrays, he once asked a meeting of prisoners what they were grateful for in prison. One listed 31 things including: "Heat in the winter. Air-conditioning in the summer. The library. A warm bed. Laundry service. A chance for redemption. New friends. Leaving behind old circumstances. Three square meals daily. A bed. A pillow. A blanket. Life." Other prisoners applauded enthusiastically.

Why me?

O'Leary maintains that victims often obsess with "Why me?, as in "Why so many life problems?" But, he says, victors also ask "Why me?" but with optimism, as in "What lesson is [this situation] teaching? How can I conquer this circumstance, not allow it to drag me down, but allow it to raise me up and benefit others?"

I suspect you would agree with O'Leary that "We all face fires in life, we all get burned." My own major suffering has not been physical, but emotional and relational.  During a two-week period in 1996, my wife of 20 years divorced> me, my employer of 25 years showed me the door, and I had a cancer scare. No fun.

Friends, family, and faith helped me land on my feet. I believed the biblical promise that "God causes all things to work together for good" for his followers. But it took about 10 years for my emotions to catch up with my faith convictions.

My pain gave me a new emotional pipeline to connect with hurting people who could identify and would consider the faith solutions that my life experiences revealed. Opportunities to influence for good expanded widely in unforeseen ways.

In 2000, I married a wonderful woman – who succumbed to cancer in 2016 – and I married a terrific longtime friend in 2018. Lessons learned from the 1996 experience helped both subsequent relationships.

Soul on Fire is an uplifting film about a terrible disaster that continues to produce positive results globally.

Rated PG (USA) "for thematic content including burn injuries, some peril and suggestive material." 

www.SoulOnFireMovie.com

Opens October 10 (USA)

Copyright © 2025 Rusty Wright