An Amish Murder

Don't believe the naysayers. Definitely worth the time watching. Even recommended it to a friend. Definitely enough plot twists to keep you guessing who dunnit. The last 30 minutes was pretty intense.

Only LMN could take a great concept like an Amish murder investigated by a shunned Amish cop and film it like a romantic LMN Christmas special. I guess they only have one way of treating cinematography and only know one style of background music. I kept waiting for a wounded lost war hero to show up. He would then reclaim his lost love. Next scene the marriage in front of the Christmas tree.

There are famous actors. There are fine performances. Interesting culture clashes.There is such potential for a riveting mystery. In my opinion LMN turned a great concept and story line into romantically filmed pap.

I have read the first half of this book series. There is so much that isn't in the movie, but it is a very good movie, well worth the watch.

Even better, the books are an excellent read and worth the time to read them. I lost my source to them in 2014, but she had one a year through 2023. If only more of them were translated into movies!

The characters are well done, and while not a lot is explained about the Amish community in the movie, the books do an excellent job of expanding understanding of this proud community.

The writer of this series, If I remember correctly is also an Amish person that left that community.

Another Lifetime Television movie, one out of a dozen, with the same kind of set-up you always get with these kind of movies. I'm just not a fan of these kind of movies, saw too late it was Lifetime production otherwise I would probably not even start watching it. Neve Campbell was the reason I thought it could be good, but the story is just not good enough. The first second I saw the by then unknown killer I knew it was him, it was all too predictable, it's just a cheesy yawny story. The acting is just okay, nothing special or wowing. The background music adds nothing to the suspense, it's that typical mellow piano music you always have with Lifetime Television, I honestly don't get why they do that, it just brings down the quality of any movie they make. It's one of those tv-movies you watch with one eye, when you do your chores, or put on as background sound.

I really enjoyed this one. Not only was it a very good and engaging story, but what I really appreciated most was the excellent direction.

You could tell by the fantastic acting that this director was very sharp and knew exactly how to elicit perfect performances from everyone concerned. The scenes between two of the principles were done so well, especially very sensitive, delicate moments that are usually sledge hammered home with their performances, but in this case were handled beautifully. I know that doesn't really sound like it is that important, but that shows me how talented the director is to bring out the perfect interactions during very touching and tender scenes and with the perfect touch of humour. Which would also be the result of brilliant writing. I cannot emphasize enough how rare that is, particularly in low budget Telefilms.

In addition to all that, the story is a great Crime/Mystery/Thriller which is paced beautifully, completely engaging the audience and keeping them involved in the story and the very realistic and believable characters.

Of course the Amish setting is handled very well too. I really respected the fact that they didn't portray them as some caricatures or superficial extremists, but I felt they did a great job in having them come across as very real, and devoted people which was also done very well.

This reminds me of another great Murder Mystery also set in the Amish community called, 'A Stranger Among Us' (1992) starring Melanie Griffith in a similar role. That film had a much higher budget and was more elaborate, being a full on theatre film. But, this one truly holds its own, in the involving story and execution.

And, if that weren't enough, the cinematography and scenery are absolutely beautiful, also extremely well done.

So, as you can likely tell by now, yes, I really did indeed like and enjoy this movie very much... : ) Because of all the snow, kind of slightly reminded me of Fargo too, just a bit.

An excellent film, extremely well put together, written, acted, and directed. A story that really engages and keeps your interest all the way through. Very highly recommended! I gave it a very solid '7', almost gave it an '8'...

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Just a note as to how I do my reviews... I usually don't repeat the basic plot since almost everyone else does that (Claudio Carvalho is an excellent example of this. He writes about 6 paragraphs of a synopsis, and then adds maybe 2 sentences as an actual review... :/ ) and you can get the basic synopsis from a bunch of other places, to me that is just a waste of time, and I feel honestly doesn't really tell you anything that helpful. So, what I concentrate on in my reviews is hopefully putting across whether I think it is a Good film, or if I think that it is an Entertaining movie and what I feel it's strengths and weaknesses are in the way it is made.

That way, Hopefully it will be of more benefit and actual help to others as to whether I feel it is worth watching (and also perhaps what 'Type' of film it is and what type of people may enjoy it)

My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with a little entertainment value here and there for some.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )