Devil's Playground

As movie #23 on Steve's list of recommendations, I was able to watch "Devil's Playground," a documentary about the Rumspringa tradition of the Amish religion. In short, the Amish allow their children, usually around age 16, to leave the Amish community and indulge in the "sins" of the "English" world. This documentary chronicles several of these Amish teens as they indulge in every sin possible: heavy drinking, drugs, sex, cars, etc.

What I found amazing about this movie was the depths to which some of these kids went crazy with their new-found freedom. Most of them bought cars, several of them bought trailer homes to live in, almost all of them party constantly, and the main character even got addicted to crystal meth. I think its ironic that I was actually experiencing culture shock watching them experience culture shock.

What may have been even more fascinating was the ho-hum attitude of the few Amish adults that allowed themselves to be taped (most Amish don't believe in being photographed). Several of the pastors were interviewed, however, and all of them recognized this as literally a necessary "evil." To that extent I understand that for people to be committed to that religion, they have to know that they would hate living in the "English" world, but living that life, I can't imagine them not missing some of the luxuries that they were able to experience for a time. I think having something for a short while is even worse than never having it, because then you know what you're missing. Indeed, one middle-aged Amish man said "I still miss my car a lot, but, eh, well, you know, you get used to this life I guess." That sounds full of conviction, doesn't it?

Anyhoo, I just found it interesting that Amish parents are more or less ok with their kids going balls-out crazy and also that the kids pretty much do go balls-out crazy. Certainly was an eye-opener to a way of life that I was obviously very unfamiliar with.

posted by Brad @ 10:49 PM