MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

lorainejean3 This is a great movie. I borrowed it from our local library. I have been reading a lot of books lately on the Amish and am very interested in their lifestyle. This movie seemed to portray their lifestyle pretty accurately. I was particularly impressed with Matt Letscher's performance as an Amish husband and father and a "plain man". It was excellent and right on target! I had never seen him before or even knew who he was but I signed onto this website just so I could let him know how good his portrayal was. His grief and pain were so real I couldn't hold back the tears. I know Ms Paisley got top billing and was supposed to be the star of the movie, but her performance was not that great. She was so angry all the time. I think it is easier to show anger than to show the grief and inner turmoil that Mr. Letscher had to portray.I wish somehow this review will be read by him and he will know that his performance was appreciated.

superlo STORY - Based on the true story of the murder of five innocent Amish school girls in 2006 in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. The main family in the story is fictional, however. Great acting and screenplay. Emotional without being manipulative. Violent without showing any violence. Inspirational without being preachy. I have always been critical of faith-based films that are basically 'sermons disguised as films'. Faith-based films should be great stories where the message is an integral part of the story. This is one of those. At the heart of the story is a horrific crime. A lone gunman backs his pickup to a one room Amish school, walks in and proceeds to kill five young Amish girls and wound five others. What happens after that is almost as unbelievable. Three Amish men, including the father of one of the victims, visit the home of the killer to offer forgiveness and help to the gunman's widow. But not everyone finds it easy to forgive. Ida Graber (Paisley) isn't buying it. 'I will not betray my daughter by forgiving her killer'. What follows is for the most part the struggle between two women, both mothers & wives, struggling with forgiveness and their husbands from two totally different perspectives. While we may all have a tendency to see the Amish as stoic and and almost mechanical or robotic in their faith, this is not at all what comes thru in the film. While raising (but not answering) some inconsistencies in their practices, we see them as real humans struggling to deal with this horrific crime against their community. One of the most powerful scenes is at the funeral for the gunman. This is a movie that will haunt you and stick with you as you consider (at least I did) how to live out a live of forgiving with even just the most mundane grievances. What could this mean for communities, our nation and our world if forgiveness were truly practiced. I highly recommend this film.

vchimpanzee I don't have cable at home beyond the local channels and WGN, but I was lucky to be at a motel when this aired.I had a totally different view of the Amish from the way this movie depicted them. They didn't have electricity or modern conveniences, but they had nice houses. They were not uptight or judgmental, except for shunning members of their group who chose to leave. The children seemed happy; almost no one wanted to experience life on the outside.And these people showed the true meaning of forgiveness like I have never seen it. One of the best performances, and one of the best illustrations of the true meaning of forgiveness, came from an actor playing a gray-bearded farmer who raised corn. Sorry I don't know his name.Of course one of these people had doubts and nearly lost her faith. Who wouldn't? In fact, one woman who lost two children knew she should forgive but seemed to stay mad at the man who committed the terrible deed; she forgave him many times a day. In a sense, that's what forgiveness means, although I'm sure it should mean to forgive once and never have to do it again. But this woman really seemed to understand her faith and was just having great difficulty.One of the most powerful statements was the way these people supported the widow of the shooter; a group of men came to her house not to chastise her but to forgive her husband and to ask what she needed from them.I don't recall any weaknesses in the film. Everyone did a good job of acting. Even the TV reporters who had major roles showed the true meaning of what journalism should be in this situation, as opposed to the vultures who were the majority.I was very surprised at the plain-vanilla TV-PG V-chip rating. But there's nothing here that would make the film inappropriate for older children. True, it is suggested some children die, and we see the grief and hear about what happened, but what happened in that schoolhouse is never shown. It's as mild as it can possibly be considering the circumstances. The description by one survivor who woke up from a coma once again drives home the point about what good Christians these people are.Everyone should see this.

peachy2 This movie showed that while forgiveness isn't something that comes naturally, it is something that harms not necessarily the object of hatred but, rather, it harms ourselves, our own lives, & those around us. THIS is the lesson of this movie.It tells you right out that it's a fictionalized version of the real event, so I have no problem w/the bits of "drama" added, as another reviewer has indicated. None of that detracted from the important message, & that was the key point. If you have a heart & a soul, you will FEEL this movie ... & be forced to reconsider the next time someone does something petty to you & yours & your automatic reaction is to make them pay--because you will remember this movie, & know that if you can't get over that, you'll never get over the really difficult times.