collected writings

devil's playground

From the beginning the United States was viewed as a land of opportunity, where diverse groups could establish communities free from persecution and suffering. Whether this belief was a dream, or the early stages of the commoditization of a lifestyle that is now loved and hated throughout the world, depends largely on who is answering the questions.

These traditions, plus a hearty helping of self-preservation have left most with a mind-your-own-business attitude. Perhaps nowhere this mindset is taken more literally than in Amish communities, comprising around 140,000 members across North America, including several hundred in Montana.

Amish traditionally disallow cameras to document their lives, considering it a form of pride and a distraction from family and God. Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness was filmed on an Amish farm, but getting a personal portrait of Amish life was considered near impossible until Devil's Playground .

Shot in unobtrusive digital video, Devil's Playground chronicles the most outwardly open period in Amish life, that of rumspringa , ("running around"), when the 16 year old Amish is let loose in the "English" world, free to act as they will, and return to the church if and when they choose. This way, according to the Amish, the decision to devote the remainder of one's life to the church and God becomes all the more profound, because of the choice involved.

First time director Lucy Walker spent several weeks living among the Amish until she had established enough trust to begin her filming. Then she accompanied Amish youths on standard rumspringa activities, namely, huge parties and lots of drinking.

Boys dress English, although most girls do not. Let loose in the modern world, like many teens they talk on cell phones, drive cars, and do drugs. Even sex is somewhat condoned, at least for the males. Rumspringa also acts as a period of Amish recruiting; male English perpetually follow their Amish girlfriends back to the farm. One questions whether running around at sixteen with no school (Amish stop school at the 8 th grade level, considering any further education another form of pride) and no structure is experiencing the "real" world, but it is an interesting world nonetheless.

Walker assembled somewhere near 300 hours of interviews and somewhat repetitive party footage; however, her film would have been little more than a prudish Girls Gone Wild if she had not met Faron, son of a preacher and the unequivocal "star" of the film.

While over ninety percent of Amish teenagers drink, smoke, and then return to the fold, Faron let loose. To pay for his $100 a day meth habit, he sells drugs, eventually serving as a narc, which leads to death threats. And that is just the beginning of the life and loves of Faron, awash in the Midwest.

Faron is the kind of subject documentary filmmakers pine for; at home in front of the camera, willing to open up the darkest secrets, exuding drama. Granted, Faron is atypical of the rumspringa youth, but his presence makes the film enjoyable. We hope that he will get the girl more so than any Hollywood fare; that's good filmmaking.

Despite the Amish being a never-before-subject, more can be learned in an almanac entry then in Devil's Playground . However, true non-fiction films are not necessarily about events and facts, but real people. Such a personal journey into the individual life, as we are treated to through Walker's coverage of Faron, illustrates Amish lifestyle, as well as the unique experience of growing up in the states. Certainly a subject worth examining.