More than 4 million viewers tuned in to the Lifetime TV channel on Palm Sunday to watch Amish Grace, setting a number of viewing records for the network. The film, which chronicled the tragic 2006 school shootings – and the deaths of five young Amish girls – in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, releases to DVD today.
The movie, starring Kimberly Williams-Paisley in the lead role, shows how the Amish community struggled in the aftermath of the tragedy – how their faith sustained them, and how they forgave the killer and his family. But for some, forgiveness didn't come easily; it shows some honest wrestling with the concept, as we noted in our blog review when it first released.
But how honest? Two New York papers argued about that: The Daily News said the film "gets to the heart of faith," while The Post said it "gets fiction treatment." The Kansas City Star went so far as to say that the film "gets everything wrong."
And yet there's no denying the power and redemption of the true story that really happened in Nickel Mines four years ago – the power of faith and forgiveness. Perhaps the film gets some of the details wrong, but that powerful truth, and the amazing love and grace behind it, is world-changing.
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