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.

Film "Amish Grace" is a movie containing lessons in true forgiveness. It's intent was not to educate about Amish lifestyle and beliefs, yet those and the Nickel Mines, PA Amish School murders were the backdrops for the story..the framework if you will allow. It is my opinion that it was not the purpose to capitalize upon the tragedy that struck this serene community near my home, nor to point a finger at Mr. Charlie Roberts and his family. Instead, the film's purpose was to address the radicalness of forgiveness in a world which does not often seek to forgive nor teaches forgiveness. The story, and the example of our Amish Christian brethren, is that of illustrating the beauty and strength of the forgiveness that Christ Jesus Himself commanded of his apostles, and also of us. Forgiveness is not easy to carry out, nor to feel in one's heart. Forgiveness is a decision of the will not to seek to carry out vengeance towards another person. Only God, Who is all-knowing and all-loving can truly know what's going on in a person's heart...the one who carries out a fault against another. So, it follows that God forgives, and as we believe and trust in Him, we also are able to imitate His forgiveness, though we cannot, in our human limitations, completely understand a situation. Jesus asks us to take the higher road. Our unforgiveness is an obstacles to the healing and faith of others. To live in His peace is God's will for all mankind.Amish Grace does not seek a major film award. Perhaps it was not perfect in writing, scope, and dialogue, but it is the lesson of forgiveness that is its banner. I hope many, many people see this film and hearten to its lessons. May all people grow in respect of our Amish neighbors and learn also from their simple, quiet, trusting faith in God. We have much to learn from their choice to be separate (holy) unto the Lord. Thanks for reading this.

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.

I've never written a review before, but I feel compelled to with this movie. I live in Central PA, I've spent most of my life here, and I work in the media. I remember this tragedy very, very well. I didn't want to watch this movie, but I was visiting a house where it was on. The Amish way of life was very poorly portrayed, it's almost as though the filmmakers did no research. From the little things, Amish don't have curtains on their windows or decorative plates in their homes, to larger issues, no Amish person spoke on camera to the media, they had a spokesperson. They tried to make Ida more like a modern, non-Amish woman in her personality in order to make it easier for those of us outside the Amish lifestyle to understand her better. I know this is a Lifetime movie, but did they have to make her seem like a battered woman seeking help from an outside source to escape. Really?? I remember no mention of a sister being shunned, I can guarantee the media would have been all over her as someone who could go on camera, so I really believe that was a fictional element added to the story to add more conflict. The Amish community pulled together and wanted to handle this tragedy on their own, with no outside help. They never turned to the media, only sending statements through a spokesperson when the media wouldn't leave them alone. The group of grandfathers who went to Roberts' house never spoke to the media, nor would they! They asked people to stop sending money, but millions of dollars came in. Some was accepted to help build a ramp into the home of the one girl who was left in a vegetative state. The only help they asked for and accepted were rides to the hospitals (they were all too far away to take the horse and buggy) and the use of construction vehicles to tear down the original school in the early hours of the morning. There was no reporter who struck up a relationship like that with one of the mothers. The local media has a lot of respect for the Amish and their beliefs. While they were there to get the story, they kept their distance. They didn't do things like shoot Ida's husband straight on and follow him while saying "Do you think that's a father?" The Amish don't allow photos of themselves to be taken and as such, the local media knows how to shoot them (ie from behind or from a distance) in order to allow them some space. For those of you who think this was a correct portrayal of the Amish, just remember it was very skewed to make a more compelling movie, however, with this story nothing needed to be added or changed to tell a heartbreaking story. The authors of the book that the movie was based on publicly distanced themselves from this movie and donated all the money they were given to charity, not even they wanted anything to do with this. Unless you lost a child in a horrific way, none of us can truly understand what these families went through. But the Amish community is very different from those of us outside the community. Different in their beliefs and their lifestyles. By trying to make Ida more like us so that we understand what she's going through was an insult to what all these families went through and how they dealt with it. It's a good thing the Amish don't have televisions so they were spared any image from this movie. Oh, and not only was it poorly researched, but the writing and acting was terrible!