Amish Abduction

I guess I am at a disadvantage, since I live in the area where this movie is supposed to take place. Plus, I'm surrounded by Amish farms on three sides of my house, and I know a fair amount about their culture.

This movie shows caricatures of what Amish people are like, not the reality. They don't dress right, the buggies are all wrong, the accents are wrong, and more. I could go on and on about all the things misrepresented here. Heck, they couldn't even pronounce the name of the city "Lancaster" correctly; they used the west coast version, not the pronunciation used in Pennsylvania.

I could probably get past all that if the plot were better. But the part with the guy providing whiskey to two of the Amish was unnecessary. It was a way to hide the rest of the bad writing. As for the main plot, eh, boring, and a variation on a theme we've seen too many times.

I'm shocked at the overall rating this movie got. Even without the cultural errors, this is by far one of the lesser Lifetime efforts.

The story line was so so. Those reviewing who questioned the portrayal of the Amish..get over it. It's a movie. It was respectful of their community and educational about their ways. Sara Canning is a fantastic underrated talent who I thoroughly enjoy watching anytime. I would like to know why a name such as Kimberly Sustad doesn't even get a mention in the cast credits...strange.

I'm giving this a 1 star, because I can't go any higher, but I am AMAZED at how ridiculously entertaining this was. I felt like I was watching an Amish soap opera.

After the assault outside the court, why wasn't the exact husband arrested for assault? Then he shows up at the hospital?

That's when I turned it off.

It's a drama about abusive family violence in a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Amish community. It follows the story of a young Amish mother trying to recover her son after her husband takes the son to Philadelphia to go "English."

Annie (Sara Canning) is married to Jacob (Steve Byers). They have one young son, Caleb (Liam Hughes); a later pregnancy ended with the death of the fetus. Annie's parents, John (Andrew McIlroy) and Betty (Gabrielle Rose), live next door; John appears to be the Amish community's leader. Jacob's brother, Thomas (Ryan Bruce), also figures in the story, as does a younger Amish boy named Samuel (Iain Belcher).

We learn early on that Jacob is dissatisfied with the restrictive Amish life and wants to explore the outside world. He wants Annie to join him, but she refuses. Meanwhile, we also learn that Jacob has issues both with alcohol and a quick temper. An encounter by Jacob and Samuel with an outsider ends badly. Nonetheless, John and Betty encourage Annie to be loyal to her husband. Then Jacob takes Caleb with him to Philadelphia and applies for legal custody of Caleb. Annie goes to Philadelphia, with Thomas as protection, and meets Jacob again in court. The judge's decision makes Jacob very angry, resulting in several acts of violence, including a climax in the family barn.

"Amish Abduction" is easily one of the worst "Amish" movies I've ever seen. The isolated Amish "village" is presumably in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but the Amish don't live in villages. The Amish characters look like a bad version of some branch of the Beachy Amish but still use horses and buggies. Their schoolhouse has a steeple, which no Amish building would do. The account does not follow basic child custody laws, and an early act of extreme violence simply disappears from the story. Finally, the ending implies a new relationship for Annie, which the Amish wouldn't allow as long as Jacob was alive, regardless of his evil nature.