Amish Grace
 

I just watched a movie called Amish Grace about the school shooting. I really enjoyed it. Anybody else see it?

Re: Amish Grace
 

I want to. The movie got good reviews from some high profile pundits. I did read part of the book but was not able to finish it.

Re: Amish Grace
 

I watched it, ILG. It was interesting. But I was really interested in the fact when I watched it that it didn't seem that everything they showed about these people followed with what I've been taught that the Amish church believes. Boy, is that sentence clear as mud?? sorry. It's been a while since I watched the movie so I can't give you specific examples. sorry.

Re: Amish Grace
 

To me the previews seemed way heavy on the drama which the Amish are not known for...

What did you think ILG ?

Re: Amish Grace
 

I watched it. It was interesting, and though I could relate to the Amish mother main character (can't remember names) I couldn't get past the fact that the Amish I've known are raised to accept things like this. If she'd been wearing English clothes and had been a modern mother in a town with an Amish community, I could have understood her reactions. But as an Amish woman she seems very out of character, at least the Amish I've been near.

According to at least some articles, I'm not the only one who struggles with the movie portrayal. http://www.suite101.com/content/amis...ragedy-a218691

Aside from that, I could relate from an English perspective--some of her reactions, especially in the group setting and such, dealt with questions and feelings that I was dealing with in my own life at the time.

Re: Amish Grace
 

You weren't able to finish it because?

I hope you get a chance to watch it. The message was really good.

Re: Amish Grace
 

I thought the Amish would have been much more stoic in real life. I had to look past what I thought were Hollywood errors to the message of the movie. I would have preferred if it would have been more true to life but it probably would not have sold as well. I thought they should have put in some more realistic dynamics of Amish struggle. As it was, only one woman struggled with the forgiveness idea and then she came around. So, it was quaint and somewhat unrealistic in my opinion. So, I just focused on the message of the movie which was very inspiring in it's own way.

I would be interested in your opinion after you see it too.

Re: Amish Grace
 

Time constraints... It wasn't my book. But I will buy it and the movie too.

Re: Amish Grace
 

I followed this story in The Mennonite Weekly Review before the books came along.
The Amish are sometimes described in error by the "english"

Only Amish and some mennonites understand what I italacized.

Re: Amish Grace
 

My thriftiness is kicking in. There are libraries, ya know. LOL!!:thumbsup

Re: Amish Grace
 

I'm not Amish and I understand. But hey, it may have been because I have read a million books on them. ;)

Re: Amish Grace
 

Much of it was Englishized. But, that's what Hollywood does best! ;)

Re: Amish Grace
 

I'm not sure it would be possible for someone with no knowledge of the culture to step into the role and not "englishize" it.

When I was reading this the other night I thought about learning to draw faces. We were told that faces are very difficult because we tend to draw parts of our own faces into others'. Then he had us draw each other. My friend and I drew each other. She's Chinese, but her portrait looked very European. Mine ended up looking mildly Oriental. It was hilarious, and the perfect example of what the instructor had just told us. The same is true of learning other languages--if you learn Spanish from an American who wasn't raised speaking the language, you are going to have a pretty strange accent.

I can imagine actors and actresses having the same difficulty with other cultures and time periods. You don't really know people until you've lived among them. And Amish culture is probably further from Hollywood than even Middle Eastern cultures or 1600s American culture, because they never read about it, studied it, or saw anything about it on the news. The only things most of us have seen or heard are "englishized", unless we've actually read a copy of The Budget (and even then most of us are reading it from an English perspective, so our perspective still isn't quite accurate). It was interesting seeing that come out in the movie... almost like looking again at my Chinese friend's portrait of an American.

Re: Amish Grace
 

Good explanation!:thumbsup

Re: Amish Grace
 

I didn't watch it, I saw the previews and the actions of the people just didn't seem authentic to me, based on my interactions with some Amish and Old Order Mennonites. I'm sure MissouriMary is right, it would be hard to do a movie like that without making the characters more English than Amish since the actor's are English, but it just didn't interest me because of that.

Re: Amish Grace
 

I saw a video on Amish Paradise...is that the same?

Re: Amish Grace
 

No. This one is about the school shooting and the aftermath. Trouble in Paradise is a story of a couple families choosing to leave the Amish.

Re: Amish Grace
 

Calling all the rest of us "English..." you've been around Amish.

Re: Amish Grace
 

Not too much. A lot of reading, a little interaction, some observation.

Re: Amish Grace
 

Attached is the Walmart near my sister's house. Most of my interactions have been "in traffic." LOL. But those were always friendly.

Re: Amish Grace
 

I can tell from the buggy design it's an Amish buggy versus Old Order Mennonite.

Re: Amish Grace
 

The Amish population doubles every 19 years. Will there be a market for Hotwheels brand buggies for little boys?

Re: Amish Grace
 

There was an Amish community about five miles from the town I went to college in. One of the girls in my dorm brought in an article about the Amish. That got me started reading. It irritated me that some students said things that weren't true, and it irritated me that the Amish seemed to be treated poorly in that town (both because of some locals and some college students).

I enjoyed seeing them at auctions, around town, and in their local shop. Even though we didn't ever talk much, they reminded me of my own family in some of their ways, demeanors and mannerisms.

After college, I stayed in the area. At the time I would have insisted that I knew a lot about Amish life. I needed an antique table repaired and took it to them. They told me they'd be happy to work on it, but that they weren't sure how they would let me know when it was done. I told them I could drive out and check in a week or two. They told me they weren't sure it would be done by then though, and didn't want me to waste the trip. I shrugged and said it was only five or ten miles, it wouldn't be a big deal. The look on their faces told me I still had a lot to learn. Five or ten miles may not be huge in a car, but it's a sizable trip in a buggy.

For me to overlook a little detail like that as a 20-something year old was understandable and a lesson well-learned. When Hollywood overlooks the details, it detracts from the realism and distracts people from the meaning behind the movie.

Re: Amish Grace
 

Exactly!!! :thumbsup

Re: Amish Grace
 

I used to live by some OOM's. When I asked them if they were OOM, they looked pretty impressed. ;) I figured it out by the clothes.

Re: Amish Grace
 

That's how I can tell too, I know some of the different styles of buggy, but can't remember which style belongs to which group.

Off topic, but my daughter was playing in the park with an OOM little girl her age last summer (her Mom was selling baked goods at the farmers market) and my little one said "Mommy can I have a dress like hers?" so I ended up getting a pattern from a friend who has OOM family and making her a dress in their style.

Edited - meant to say last summer not last month. lol

Re: Amish Grace
 

;) That's cute.

Re: Amish Grace
 

LaRue County, Kentucky - actually just across the river in Elizabethtown. Most of the 'Amish traffic' seems to be in LaRue County, but the shopping opportunities exist more in Hardin County.

Re: Amish Grace
 

My wife designed clothing for our children so they could sumer in a living museum as re-enactors. We did order leather shoes from a mail catelog that were legal. All the fabric had to be natural fibres. No zippers.

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Coadie as you know Amish attraction is huge for tourism in Lancaster county PA where I was born. Unfortunately even most of the "handcrafted" items are imports from China... So hot wheels brand buggies may very well be in the works!

Re: Amish Grace
 

The dress I made her is cotton, and I can't remember what the closures were supposed to be, but I differentiated from the pattern there and put in a zipper because she can work zippers better than hooks and eyes.

There are some ladies in my area that use pins instead of buttons or hooks and eyes, but I think they're Amish not OOM.

Re: Amish Grace
 

The Amish outsource to China too now? :blink



(I'm sure probably the "handcrafted" items you mention are in the tourist stores, but it took me a minute to realize that. :heeheehee)

Re: Amish Grace
 

:thumbsup