Amish Grace (Lifetime)

The Amish Community forgave the murder of their young girls Directed By:  Gregg Champion Starring:  Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Tammy Blanchard, Gary Graham, Matt Letscher, Darcy Byrnes, Fay Masterson, Madison Mason, Karley Scott Collins, Eugene Byrd, Bruce Nozick, John Churchill, Amy Sloan, Madison Davenport, Eric Nenninger, and Willow Geer Length:  2 hours Content Filters:  None

This is the classic story of forgiveness. The Amish set an example for all of us about truly forgiving people who do terrible things. You may remember the news accounts of the milkman who lined up ten Amish schoolgirls and shot them, killing six. This movie is based on this horrific and tragic experience and how the community not only forgave the killer, but went out of their way to befriend the wife of the murderer and to share funds with her that were donated from far and wide.

We congratulate the film makers for telling this horrific story without showing any of the violence--or indeed any of the morbid parts of the story. However, there has been some criticism that the movie script was fictionalized in several ways that were not fact, specifically about how one of the mothers refused for a long time to be forgiving. Following their customs, the Amish were not involved in creating or editing the script or the film. As good as this film is, the screenwriters and film makers could have more closely followed the more accurate account told by Donald B. Kraybill, the author of the book, Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy.

Reviewed By:  Glen Griffin
Screenplay Writer:  Sylvie White and Teena Booth
Author of Book:  Donald B. Kraybill
Producer:  Kyle A. Clark, Marta M. Mbley
Production Studio:  Larry Thompson Organization
Distributor:  Lifetime Television
Musical Score:  Marek Dobrowolski