Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Reno Rangan
This is the first film, based on the Beverly Lewis' 'The Heritage of Lancaster County' trilogy. It is a television film series that was telecasted in the Hallmark. This channel is good at this kind of story narration. I have seen many similar films and one of those was 'Love Comes Softly'. The same filmmaker directed this as well.The film is about a young Amish woman. I've never met one in my life, nor knew anything about them, until I'd learned everything through watching the films. So I've no good or bad impression on them. But watching the film, especially the first half did not show them in a good light. Until the storytelling ends, there's nothing to judge. And as expected, it'd given a good reason in the later part.It was suspenseful at the opening. An English woman who has just landed in Lancaster county, looking for a particular person. Not everybody is interested in helping her. But somehow the message reaches the other end. Soon they are terrified and prepared for the bad thing. It's all linked to their daughter Katie. The truth always finds its way out and that's how Katie gets involved in it. Besides her instinct was always been on her side. The rest is about her expedition to unlock more truth.-xX] No matter where god puts us, it's up to us how we choose to live. [Xx-This is good for literature. But for screen adaptation, it does not have any chance to deliver a similar success. Not in the current generation. Would have been great half a century ago. Though for a television, it all makes sense. Because television audience is different. Consists mainly families, and that too as well women. So most of the television films are women oriented themes. On that aspect, this is a wonderful film. I too sometimes enjoy watching them. So I consider it a decent find, to watch in between the mainstream films.I knew this filmmaker would deliver, but the cast as well been wonderful. The story did not reveal much. It played hide and seek, but it had enough contents the whole first instalment to carry on with. As well as the curiosity it puts in us about what might follow in the sequel is a good thing. It had enough depth in characters to take on a ride. Other than that, the story is yet to come out with an explanation to cover all the bases. In a way, it does not matter if it heads forward only to focus on the future developments.A simple 90 minute drama, it does not have much topic to discuss. I've said everything I'd wanted to. So now I'm an inch closer to check out the next part. I hope it maintains the same rhythm. But I'm not liking it already as I'm finding something unfamiliar in the cast. I'll let you know what that's all about in the next review once I finished watching it. Meanwhile, it is not bad for once watching, but the original target audience should be watching it than anybody else.7/10
bjarias
If group psychological intimidation of members into submission is an actual practice, it paints a harsh, and strict portrait of cultural life in these communities. But it's movie-land so who really knows. Acting is very decent.. Danielle Panabaker.. binged.it/1te82U4 .. is wonderful in her part, all the cast is solid. Daniel departs to find his 'other' world, then Katie gets her chance as well.. eventually to somewhat cross paths in the next part of the series 'The Confession'.. bit.ly/17ovEHV (track it down online). Panabaker does not make the transition to part 2 (the only important one missing)... Sherry Stringfield does, with a much larger role. Part 2 has a much different feel, Katie LeClerc.. bit.ly/17qj4YI .. truly does a fine job, but those missing Panabaker are entirely correct. It was a blunder not making sure she'd return, and a real cop-out for producers to say an actor's 'not available.' Long running series with same cast members are created all the time... it's just bs, and exceptionally poor decision making preventing it from happening. Hope the final installment in the series comes out soon, to reveal if Daniel's prophecy gets fulfilled.
ksf-2
The film opens with someone riding through the countryside in a limo, past the amish farms and farmers. The lady in the limo hands an envelope to one of the amish women, and requests that she only give it to the intended recipient, and amish girl. When the recipient's parents open the letter instead, things start to go wrong. The young amish girl has been promised to the local amish bigshot, but we eavesdrop on her flashback of her first love, so we can see that she is not happy with the wedding plan.This is pretty much a chick flick, and it has some mistakes. When she buries her guitar, there is a giant hole in the ground for her guitar case, but just a small bit of dirt beside it... and the leaves at the edge of the hole are not even disturbed. In addition, there are many small details that are not correct in a story about the amish. Apparently this is just the first part of a trilogy, so we should not expect all issues to be resolved....It's a very heavy, sad, serious story. One hopes that if the rest of the trilogy is made into movies, things turn out a tad more happy and upbeat for "Katie", the central character in the story. In this one, things go downhill for her throughout the movie. Directed by Michael Landon Jr, who seems to direct a lot of films for Hallmark Channel.
lilajoysd
I thought that though it was not 100% true to the book, it did follow it pretty well for the time crunch. I did notice some things that were not true to the Amish, but it is also a hard thing to tell because many of the orders differ in their rules. I really enjoyed seeing Danielle Panabaker as Katie, I thought she expressed the emotions of the situation strongly! The entire cast was strong, with the exception of David Topp, who was okay, but seemed young for the roll, and was nothing like the young man described. Over all I felt like it was a nice transition to the screen and very worth watching if you are a Beverly Lewis fan.
