Critique of Amish Grace
Andrew Hernandez
Professor McKee
REL2000
01 October. 2012
Critique of Amish Grace Amish Grace, directed by Gregg Champion, is a religious movie about a grieving Amish mother who struggles to forgive the wife of a gunman who killed her daughter and four other young girls in their schoolhouse. After the shooting, many remained true to their traditional belief to practice forgiveness, expect for Ida Graber, who is upset with God and her husband for offering forgiveness so quickly. Burdened by the loss of her daughter, Ida finds it difficult to forgive the gunman’s wife, Amy Roberts. With each passing day, Ida’s sorrow continues to worsen, testing her faith and the Amish way of life in ways that she never would think of. This film is based on a true story that unfolded in a Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania Amish schoolhouse on October 2nd, 2006. Champion’s Amish Grace may very well be considered an amazing religious movie because of the religious factors in the theme, the characters and the religious symbolisms. To begin with, Champion’s Amish Grace focuses on two very important religious themes, forgiveness and faith. Setting aside religion for a second, how can someone forgive what many would consider the unforgiveable? Champion successfully manages to show his audiences how tough it can be to forgive. Coming back to religion, he adds the Amish belief of forgiveness, and viewers get a whole new view on how forgiveness can affect the Amish. Donald Kraybill, a professor and religion writer for Christian Science Monitor writes “The Amish invert the process [of forgiveness] .Their religious tradition predisposes them to forgive even before an injustice occurs.” And this is what happened in the film after the massacre. For example, in a scene many of the Amish people went to offer their forgiveness to Amy Roberts, the murderer’s wife, and then they offer to help her if she ever needed anything. Moreover, faith is another factor in the religious theme of the film.
Professor McKee
REL2000
01 October. 2012
Critique of Amish Grace Amish Grace, directed by Gregg Champion, is a religious movie about a grieving Amish mother who struggles to forgive the wife of a gunman who killed her daughter and four other young girls in their schoolhouse. After the shooting, many remained true to their traditional belief to practice forgiveness, expect for Ida Graber, who is upset with God and her husband for offering forgiveness so quickly. Burdened by the loss of her daughter, Ida finds it difficult to forgive the gunman’s wife, Amy Roberts. With each passing day, Ida’s sorrow continues to worsen, testing her faith and the Amish way of life in ways that she never would think of. This film is based on a true story that unfolded in a Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania Amish schoolhouse on October 2nd, 2006. Champion’s Amish Grace may very well be considered an amazing religious movie because of the religious factors in the theme, the characters and the religious symbolisms. To begin with, Champion’s Amish Grace focuses on two very important religious themes, forgiveness and faith. Setting aside religion for a second, how can someone forgive what many would consider the unforgiveable? Champion successfully manages to show his audiences how tough it can be to forgive. Coming back to religion, he adds the Amish belief of forgiveness, and viewers get a whole new view on how forgiveness can affect the Amish. Donald Kraybill, a professor and religion writer for Christian Science Monitor writes “The Amish invert the process [of forgiveness] .Their religious tradition predisposes them to forgive even before an injustice occurs.” And this is what happened in the film after the massacre. For example, in a scene many of the Amish people went to offer their forgiveness to Amy Roberts, the murderer’s wife, and then they offer to help her if she ever needed anything. Moreover, faith is another factor in the religious theme of the film.
Cited: Amish Grace. Dir. Gregg Champion. Perf. Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Tammy Blanchard, and Matt Letscher. Lifetime Movie Network, 2012. Film. Anonymous. “The Amish.” Religionfacts.com. N.P., N.D. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. Cooper, Jackie K. “Amish Grace Is A Story Of Grace Under Fire.” Huffingtonpost.com. AOL-HuffPost Entertainment, 23 March 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. Jennings, Todd E. “Amish Grace.” Cbn.com. The Christian Broadcasting Network, N.D. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. Kraybill Donald. “Why the Amish forgave so quickly.” Csmonitor.com. The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 29 Sept. 2012. This article may be published without any changes that would affect the author of this article. If published, this article must be FREE for other students to use. If used for profit, the author of this article will be eligible for 75% of ALL profits made for up to 10 consecutive years. Studymode.com accepts these terms if this article is published for others to use. Thank you.