Video: Documentaries & Plays
Below are links to some of the best documentaries available. Click on the ones of your choice.
Amish and Mennonites: How do they differ?
What is the difference between Amish and Mennonites? The following video does a great job at explaining that answer.
David and Miriam are not your typical Amish family, in that the Old Order Amish are not usually as open about letting outsiders film their lifestyle. However, in this case the David and Miriam Lapp family invited BBC to follow them around in their day-to-day activities. Something else that stands out is the fact that the Lapp family is very open about their faith in Jesus Christ -- this is not nearly always the case with Amish people.
In this 6-part documentary, BBC follows two Amish families for the better part of a year.
With a population of approximately 50,000, Hutterites are a close cousin to the Amish and Mennonites. The documentary examines an Alberta Hutterite community.
Amish/Mennonite Play: 100 Years of Change
In 2010, the Conservative Mennonite Conference played out 100 years of culture change. In this live 45-minute play, they share how their conference of Amish and Mennonites overcame legalism and traditions one step at a time. You will be impacted and, at times, moved to tears as you are reminded of the great difficulty change can have on God's people.
Watch as an Amish family prepares to leave their traditional culture behind, they are faced with choices that they've never had to make before.
The Amish: An Intimate Portrait of Contemporary Amish Faith and Life
An intimate portrait of contemporary Amish faith and life, this film examines how such a closed and communal culture has thrived within one of the most open, individualistic societies on earth. What does the future hold for a community whose existence is so rooted in the past? And what does our fascination with the Amish say about deep American values? (Mission to Amish People is featured in Chapter 7.)
It takes a lot to leave the only life you’ve ever known—for one you’ve been told will lead you straight to hell. And with little possibility of normal contact with your family ever again, turning your back on the Amish order is an immense undertaking, and a choice that’s not made without tremendous consideration. In the new ten-part series Amish: Out of Order, follow the trials and tribulations of individuals who have made the decision to leave the Amish community behind. (Mission to Amish People is featured in two of the episodes in this ten-part series from National Geographic.)
Genetic Problems Among the Amish
It doesn't get much more peaceful than the simple life among the Amish in rural Ohio. They have no cars, no electricity, no televisions.
But their children have medical conditions so rare, doctors don't have names for them yet .
The Amish make up only about 10 percent of the population in Geagua County in Ohio, but they're half of the special needs cases. Three of the five Miller children, for example, have a mysterious crippling disease that has no name and no known cure.
Their father, Bob Miller, says he realizes there is a crisis in the community, which is why he and two other fathers, Erwin Kuhns and Robert Hershberger, have agreed to break a strict Amish rule that forbids them to appear on camera. The three sat for an informal interview.
The peaceful Amish community of Nickel Mines was forever changed when a gunman senselessly took the lives of five girls in a schoolhouse shooting before taking his own life. What transpires afterwards takes Nickel Mines by storm when the media descends on the town and criticizes its Amish leaders for their notion of unconditional forgiveness of the shooter and his widow, Amy Roberts (Tammy Blanchard). Devastated by her daughters death and tempted to leave the only life shes ever known, Ida Graber (Williams-Paisley), finds herself struggling with her communitys teaching of the transcending power of forgiveness. But, through her anguish and pain, she slowly begins a personal journey towards accepting the heart-wrenching tragedy of losing a child.
