Amish School Shooting - Lifetime Movie

Lifetime Movie

On March 28, 2010, the Lifetime Movie Network premiered a television movie about the Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, Amish school shooting titled Amish Grace, based on the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher. Produced by Larry A. Thompson and starring Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Tammy Blanchard, and Matt Letscher, the movie in its Palm Sunday premiere broke network records in multiple demographics, with more than 4 million viewers. It became the highest-rated and most-watched original movie in Lifetime Movie Network’s history in households (3.8/2,916,449 viewers), Total Viewers (2.0/4,020,496), Women 18+ (3.5/2,729,834), Women 25-54 (2.7/1,156,363), Adults 18+ (2.4/3,649,266) and Adults 25-54 (1.9/1,585,667).

The Lifetime Movie plot summary is: When a group of Amish schoolgirls are taken hostage and killed in their classroom, their parents and the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, stun the outside world by immediately forgiving the killer. Ida Graber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), mother of one of the murdered children, has a tougher time than the others accepting the tragedy, but in her anguish and pain, she begins a personal journey of renewed faith, ultimately accepting the heart-wrenching tragedy of losing a child; reconnecting with her husband (Matt Letscher), family, and community; offering forgiveness to the killer; and even showing kindness and compassion to the killer’s widow (Tammy Blanchard) and children – all in the form of Amish Grace.

The movie received positive reviews; however, it received criticism because the authors of the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy distanced themselves from the production out of respect to the Amish community. Others criticized the movie for blending facts with fiction.