Review Rough Draft

The Lifetime Original Movie, Amish Grace, was based on a true story of the before and aftermath of the 2006 schoolhouse shooting in Nickel Mines, PN. Gunman Charles Carl Roberts (John Churchill), the milk man of the community, took ten girls hostage and let all of the boys go, eventually taking the lives of five girls, seriously injuring five more, and taking his own life, as well. Struggling with the loss of her daughter and the decisions of the community –Ida Garber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is left with the conflicting decision of leaving her family, being shun, and starting a new life. With her faith tugging at one end, calling for forgiveness for those who have sinned against them, and her conscious at the other, it leaves viewers wondering, will Ida re-embrace her faith? The remarkably touching storyline leaves viewers with tears in their eyes and an ache in their heart as the end credits roll.

Like most Lifetime Original Movie films the plot deals with murder and betrayal and although Amish Grace follows the plot of most other Lifetime Movies, it has its own distinct flavor. The emotional foundation of the movie pulls on the strings of the actors (and viewers) hearts. While Amy Roberts (Tammy Blanchard) is dealing with grief of her husband rather being “in hell” than with her and their children; the Garber’s are dealing with their family falling apart, as well. When I first saw the preview I thought it looked like a good movie, but from experience, I was never a fan of ‘based on a true story’ type movies –especially if it was coming from Lifetime.

From afar the movie is filled with real Amish traditions but as the movie goes on the director, Gregg Champion, intended to make the lifestyle and tragedy they went to seem real to an outsider. Amish Grace conveys the image of how one action can hurt a whole community. Champion even went as far as explaining in Charles Carl Roberts suicide note that he wanted to take their lives because of two reasons, their lack of technology –making them more vulnerable, and he was mad at God for taking his newborn daughter ten years ago.

With the characters being a bit ‘unknown’ –I was filled with some doubt before actually watching the movie. However, as the touching movie went on, I was proven wrong. The cast did a remarkable job of portraying the hurt in everyone’s heart, and the grief that is worldwide. One thing that was a bit displacing is in the movie they did not tear down the schoolhouse building like they did in real life; something I feel should have been portrayed merely because it showed the ‘forgive and forget’ aspect of the Amish tradition. This is what the whole plotline had been about from the start with Ida questioning her faith and tearing the building down in the movie would have tied it all together very well.

Although it is common that Amish people only attract attention because of their willingness to not have electricity, and to rather ride a horse and buggy than drive a vehicle to their destinations, Amish Grace proved that on October 2, 2006 the Amish community attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. However, Amish Grace gave an amazing portrayal of forgiveness and faiths, showing the honest struggle people go through when it comes to conflicting feelings and tragedy.

Secret Sins-Rough Draft

From an outsider point of view Wittenberg University students seem to be stuck in their dorms, worrying about the exam coming up next week, or how to get their ‘B paper’ to an A for the final draft. However, a non-scientific poll that was given last week proved that it is not what they are all about. In fact, it confirmed that Witt students enjoy the much needed craziness like most typical college students do.

The most popular answers; however, dealt with sex. It ranged from threesomes, having sex in strange places, or having sex while people are around or watching. 22 of the 120 students polled admitted to having a threesome, while one of the craziest things a girl did was “attempted to have a foursome”.

From afar Wittenberg students may seem shy and somewhat introverted, but the fill in the blank questions at the end of the survey stated otherwise. When it came to sex in strange places a guy answered, “I had sex in a pool with a girl which 30 people were watching us”, and a girl said “I had sex at a park while a family was playing baseball on the field next to us”.

Although most of the fill in the blank questions were about sex; drugs were a big factor, too. 78 out of 120 students admitted to having come to class under the influence in the past, while 63 have driven under the influence, as well. Even though some of the fill in the blank answers were short and sweet, “Xanax and drinking, wow”, some were more intense. “I beer bonged 151”, “Had an LSD induced conversation with a bunny”, and “Went on a road trip high, wasted, and lost in Rome”.

When it comes to the Witt students; however, it’s not all about sex and drugs. 50 of the students have stolen. The most popular things that were stolen were t-shirts, jewelry, and food. However, there were some strange things such as cat litter and cocktail swords.

Even though it is sometimes vulgar and quite out of the ordinary, some of the students responded to the fill in the bank questions with “The craziest thing I’ve done was go skydiving” and “White water rafting”.

Wild stories that contain many crazy endings and great memories are what life is all about. The Wittenberg student body may seem quiet and reserved, but that stereotype was proven wrong. They know the meaning of ‘only being young once’ and really are just looking to have a good time, even if it means “jumping into a giraffe’s cage” or “running around a police station naked”.