An Amish Sin (2022 TV Movie) User Reviews

Important topic; could have been executed much better

[steiner-sam · 6/10 · 2 March 2023]

It's a drama about sexual abuse in a Pennsylvania Amish community in modern times. It tells the story of a young woman who meets resistance from her religious community when she discloses abuse from a trusted uncle. Actual events inspired the film.

Rachel (Dylan Ratzlaff) is an older Amish teenager who has just been baptized into her Amish church. Her family includes her father, Levi (Troy Mundle), and mother, Sara (Kellie Martin). In addition, she has a younger sister, Bevin (Rubi Tupper), and still younger twin brothers, Lucas (Jaden Oehr) and Amon Alexander Brophy).

At an Amish church service, a middle-aged man confesses inappropriate advances to an Amish teenage daughter. The Bishop (Eugene Lipinski) asks the girl if she will forgive the man. After hesitating, she says yes. The Bishop then puts the man on probation for six weeks.

We then learn that Rachel has been abused for many years by Uncle Iddo (Micah Steinke). When Rachel discloses this to her father, he punishes her for tempting Iddo. Nate (Khobe Clarke), an unbaptized Amish friend, promises to help her leave. However, she is held in an Amish institution for wayward girls for several weeks but eventually gets to Philadelphia, where she receives help from Grace (Rukiya Bernard) and Cleve (Ryan Mah).

The movie then follows her decisions on how to respond to the shunning she received and her mother's severe illness.

There is so much to say about "An Amish Sin." It tackles an important subject that is a real issue in Amish communities. It starkly portrays the "blame the victim" choice made in many situations. There are Plain People institutions designed to address "wayward" church members, though probably not with the starkness depicted in the film.

The depiction of the Amish visually and culturally is highly confusing. The clothing is conservative but represents no group. The hair and beards of the Amish men are all over the map. Levi's hairstyle looks more like a 1960s hippie than an Amish man. The four-part-harmony music might be conservative Mennonite, but it's not Amish slow-tempo worship music. The theology was too evangelical for Old Order Amish but might fit some New Order Amish. Finally, the film's climax has little sense of reality.

Because of the importance of the topic, I wished for a better script.

Good but a little unbelievable

[gallagherkellie · 6/10 · 25 July 2023]

This movie was enjoyable to watch, I wasn't really bored at any point and it was a good length. The acting was quite decent, the only thing that bothered me was the main girl crying without any tears or watery eyes.

The unbelievable parts including the main actress wearing makeup throughout, not sure how she found the artists house, and the ending. She's suddenly allowed to visit whenever she wants and her sister can visit her? I highly doubt that. Communities like this wouldn't be too scared or police, they'd scare the girls into lying.

I still shed a tear at the end though, I really do hope that more Amish women can get the help they need.

Powerful film with credible characterizations

[annebouscal · 9/10 · 25 November 2022]

Based on true experiences of Amish and Mennonite survivors of abuse, it paints a disturbing image of how complicit entire communities can be in victim-blaming and perpetuating a cycle of exploitation. The film title is a little misleading because the eponymous sin knows no religious or socio-economic boundaries.

The film opens with a still montage and the only sound a male voice seemingly soothing a child, It continues long enough for the viewer to glimpse the chilling reality of what the person attached to that voice is doing

All the characters are spot on and well-portrayed by the cast from the naive protagonist to the pious bishop to the stern parents with their misguided beliefs in who is the source of their daughter's problem.

Definitely worth a watch.

A fantastic story, but a poor film.

[Boristhemoggy · 5/10 · 10 November 2022]

When the film started it was clearly a TV movie so instantly my expectation lowered. And rightly so. This is a fabulous story and I would love to see a full blown Hollywood production of it. Teenage girl rebelling against all her Amish background, family, church and upbringing after suffering abuse is a curtain raiser, and a very eye opening but sad story.

However right from the start the engaging Ratzlaff proves she's a little inexperienced in such a deep and multi layered role as this one, and the entire cast around her is weak. I think I'd look at the director for that fault rather than the actors.

Nevertheless I enjoyed watching it (it's based on a true story) and a brief glimpse into Amish life, although there isn't that much detail there and characters are rather grey and undeveloped.

It could have been better but was enough to get the story across and make me think so I scored it a 5.

Show them who you are

[pumping_iron-1 · 9/10 · 26 December 2022]

During the first thirty to sixty minutes of this movie, I screamed and hurled profanity at the screen. Little girls were blamed and punished for men raping them. I wanted to throw the remote at the screen. As a #MeToo survivor, this was heavy for me to take. I threatened to stop watching the movie. So glad I didn't stop. This is a beautiful story of survival. A young Amish girl goes to her parents looking for protection from sexual abuse by a family friend. Both her parents and the community turn away from her and blame her. She eventually bravely leaves her home and goes to the home of English strangers. From these strangers she learns that love is strong, kind and forgiving. She sees a different and wider view of the world which kind of frightens her. She returns home for her mother's impending death. On her deathbed, her mother admits that the daughter is a strong woman and was not responsible for the abuse. After her mother's death, she goes through her hope chest and finds her mother had hopes and dreams of a different life. This revelation strengthens her, and she leaves the Amish community to find out who she is. She becomes eager to know what this huge world has to offer her. She becomes a survivor. I thought this movie was well directed and well acted. The delicate topic was handled with care.

Okay, but

[ellenbdove · 4/10 · 8 February 2024]

Cannot get into the female lead actually being Amish with the perfectly sculpted eyebrows, perfect make up on eyelashes. Granted the lead is usually attractive, but there is absolutely no way a young Amish woman would be made up like this. Light lipstick too.

Just too perfect.

The storyline was good and interesting, but the make-up was too much of a distraction.

The way the world is going nowadays, it is frightening that woman in all areas of life seem to buy into the garbage, that they are at fault, that they tempt men and are to blame. And that they openly encourage the perpetuation of this kind of existence.

I hope we are better than this, but I am beginning to have doubts.

This movie makes you think.

Great, emotionally wrenching tale

[mgconlan-1 · 9/10 · 1 October 2023]

I'm not sure why other reviewers have dissed this one, because I found it emotionally gripping start-to-finish. It's a superbly told tale of a young woman, Rachel Albrecht (Dylan Ratzlaff), torn between her Amish upbringing and her awareness of an outside world. Most depictions of the Amish portray them as relatively benign eccentrics - there are even tourists who take trips to Amish country just to gawk at them and their rejection of modern technology like cars and telephones - but in this film they come off as a Christian version of the Taliban. Co-writers. Michael Nankin (who also directed) and Barbara. Nance do a wonderful job of portraying Rachel's culture shock on encountering the non-Amish world, and Ratzlaff's performance is pitch-perfect as a woman torn between two worlds and not sure where she belongs. A rare diamond-in-the-rough triumph for Lifetime!