The film is set in 2006 and is a fictionalized recounting of the West Nickel Mines School shooting and its aftermath when the local Amish community made international headlines for their forgiveness of the shooter, who killed himself. The film is loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same title by Donald Kraybill, Steve Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher. The movie rights were sold by the book's publisher, but the authors declined to assist in the film's production in any way. "Amish Grace" was made for the Lifetime cable channel partly owned by the Walt Disney Company.
The movie opens six months after the shooting when the new Amish school building is being opened. A TV reporter introduces us to the setting. The film then shifts back to the days before the shooting and portrays a happy fictional Graber family. Father Gideon, Mother Ida, 14-year-old Mary Beth, and younger daughter Katie attend church, recount a story from the Martyrs Mirror, and discuss Mary Beth's desire to assist the teacher in her one-room school in anticipation of becoming a teacher herself. The only discordant note is Ida receiving a letter from her sister who lives in Philadelphia and has been shunned by the Amish after becoming a widow and marrying an Englisher from outside the faith. Gideon is very straight-laced, though he doesn't appear to be among the ordained leadership of the Amish district.
The film then follows the events leading up to the shooting by Charlie Roberts (without seeing gratuitous violence) and the reaction of his wife, her father, and their children to the horrific events as they unfold. Several Amish leaders, including Gideon, come to Amy's home after the shooting and make it clear they understand she has suffered loss as well and that they forgive her husband. However, Ida is unable to forgive, and this provides the storyline as the Graber family, along with others, work through their grief. Through Ida's emotional roller-coaster, the film attempts to explain what Amish forgiveness means and what it does not mean. This is the clearest derivative of the book.
Although there are numerous problems with the movie, it is very effective in its discussion of forgiveness. The emotional nature of the subject matter means you need a lot of kleenex near at hand.
Many nuances of Amish life are "off." The men are too well-groomed with neatly trimmed beards. The women expose way too much hair under their head coverings. The singing in church is exponentially too fast. The happiness meter of the Amish families before the shooting is way over the top in accord, I assume, with a "family-friendly" cable network. While the functioning of Amish "community" is evident in the film, the articulation of the community's role is lacking. The spoken English is too polished for a community with a grade 8 education. The movie made only one very oblique reference to Charlie Robert's original intent to sexually assault the Amish girls before killing them. There are all these little things, but I still think the film achieved what it intended in its focus on forgiveness.
When it was released, "Amish Grace" had the largest viewing audience of any Lifetime movie. It generally received positive reviews, especially from reviewers not familiar with the Amish. Those more familiar with the Amish were more critical about some of the nuances mentioned above and the fact that the Amish community did not appreciate this re-surfacing of its pain only four years earlier.
The movie opens six months after the shooting when the new Amish school building is being opened. A TV reporter introduces us to the setting. The film then shifts back to the days before the shooting and portrays a happy fictional Graber family. Father Gideon, Mother Ida, 14-year-old Mary Beth, and younger daughter Katie attend church, recount a story from the Martyrs Mirror, and discuss Mary Beth's desire to assist the teacher in her one-room school in anticipation of becoming a teacher herself. The only discordant note is Ida receiving a letter from her sister who lives in Philadelphia and has been shunned by the Amish after becoming a widow and marrying an Englisher from outside the faith. Gideon is very straight-laced, though he doesn't appear to be among the ordained leadership of the Amish district.
The film then follows the events leading up to the shooting by Charlie Roberts (without seeing gratuitous violence) and the reaction of his wife, her father, and their children to the horrific events as they unfold. Several Amish leaders, including Gideon, come to Amy's home after the shooting and make it clear they understand she has suffered loss as well and that they forgive her husband. However, Ida is unable to forgive, and this provides the storyline as the Graber family, along with others, work through their grief. Through Ida's emotional roller-coaster, the film attempts to explain what Amish forgiveness means and what it does not mean. This is the clearest derivative of the book.
Although there are numerous problems with the movie, it is very effective in its discussion of forgiveness. The emotional nature of the subject matter means you need a lot of kleenex near at hand.
Many nuances of Amish life are "off." The men are too well-groomed with neatly trimmed beards. The women expose way too much hair under their head coverings. The singing in church is exponentially too fast. The happiness meter of the Amish families before the shooting is way over the top in accord, I assume, with a "family-friendly" cable network. While the functioning of Amish "community" is evident in the film, the articulation of the community's role is lacking. The spoken English is too polished for a community with a grade 8 education. The movie made only one very oblique reference to Charlie Robert's original intent to sexually assault the Amish girls before killing them. There are all these little things, but I still think the film achieved what it intended in its focus on forgiveness.
When it was released, "Amish Grace" had the largest viewing audience of any Lifetime movie. It generally received positive reviews, especially from reviewers not familiar with the Amish. Those more familiar with the Amish were more critical about some of the nuances mentioned above and the fact that the Amish community did not appreciate this re-surfacing of its pain only four years earlier.