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An Amish Murder (Lifetime) Advance Review

The long awaited movie, An Amish Murder, debuts tonight, January 6th, on Lifetime. Most of the excitement surrounding this movie stems from its star, Neve Campbell. Honestly, it was a big draw for myself as well. I do not think there is a Neve Campbell movie I have not seen. Another person adding to my list of must see would be C. Thomas Howell, playing the local county sheriff.

An Amish Murder is naturally set in a small community in Ohio that has both a big Amish presence, as well as non Amish residents. That alone makes the living situation tenuous. Add in the fact that Kate Burkholder (Campbell), a former Amish member, is now the town Chief of Police, it seems to make solving crimes, especially involving the Amish, very difficult. Naturally, a crime is committed and it appears to be linked to a crime from years prior and things that Kate Burkholder thought she had long since put behind her.

One can tell from the title alone that this story is more of a murder mystery than a story about the daily lives of the Amish. I suspected that the crime would involve someone Amish or a big dark secret the community was hiding. However, the story unfolded differently and more intriguing. That is not to say there were no predictable parts. There were, but it did not detract from the viewing experience.

An Amish Murder kept my interest the entire movie. Most of that was due to the strong acting of Neve Campbell. The other part of it was trying to figure out what exactly was going on. That was one flaw to An Amish Murder. There were many things referenced or hinted at about certain characters that were never developed. We never found out why non Amish characters were so angry at Kate or why not everyone took her seriously in her position. I also am not sure that the ending lined up with everything that we learned throughout the movie.

Despite this, I thorougly enjoyed An Amish Murder and would recommend tuning in tonight, January 6th, for the premiere on Lifetime. After you watch it, come back here and tell me what you think. I would love to discuss some of the things that I thought were missing or not answered.

By Dani Bradford | January 6, 2013 | 2 Comments

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rural librarian

Watched the movie last night, and it did explain why the Amish had put Kate under “the ban”. She had been raped as a teen by another member of the Amish community, and had subsequently shot her attacker to death in self-defense. Her father and brother buried the body in the floor of an unused mill, and made a pact never to speak of it again. But, in the eyes of the Amish religion, Kate had broken one of the strictest commandments – Thou Shalt Not Kill. Her unwillingness to confess to her sin, and her rebellion against her religion caused her to be “banned” from the community. I must also confess that I had previously read the book on which the movie is based, titled Sworn to Silence, written by Linda Castillo. I was happily surprised at how well the movie was adapted, and how true the characters and storyline followed the book. Well worth staying up on a Sunday evening for!!

countrygirl

I was tired when I watched the movie and I usually fall asleep, but I stayed awake for the end. Neve Campbell is such a watchable actress. She would draw the watchers even if the story line didn’t. But put this interesting story together with Ms. Campbell and you have a movie that is an instant success. I thought, though, that her character in the movie was “banned” because she left without a word to the man she was going to marry. Maybe I made a false assumption but that would have been after her baptism causing the community to ban her for being “English”. Either way I would watch it again…oh wait, I already am!