As I'm driving along country roads, it is not uncommon for me to pass people dressed in black attire, riding in horse-and-buggies on the shoulder of the highway. They appear as anachronisms, as if something right out of the 19th century. They're called Mennonites, and based on how they live -- secluded from the world -- to me they kind of resemble the Amish, although undoubtedly there must be some differences.
That religious communities such as these have managed to remain relatively detached from modern society for as long as they have, is rather extraordinary. Generation upon generation, these rustic folks have produced seemingly inborn ruralists at home in a pastoral setting. At least that's what I thought, until I watched this thoroughly absorbing documentary.
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND utterly transformed my thinking of the Amish. Hitherto, I'd assumed adolescents within this faith were content with living off the land, tending to fields -- the young men more than happy with their old-fashioned mode of transportation and the young women ever eager to get down to crocheting and baking for the rest of their domestic lives. Little did I realize that paradise is not as close-knit as I'd once thought it to be.
At sixteen, Amish youngsters have to decide whether they want to continue on in the church, or experience the outside world and perhaps opt for disassociation instead. There are those who simply want to feel what it is like to be physically and psychologically independent for a while, before returning to the family nest and the isolationist fold. Others, meanwhile, end up dropping out of Amish society altogether, preferring living in sin and with electricity to fiddle-playing hoedowns and their neo-Luddite heritage.
What struck me most about the Rumspringa period as portrayed in this film is the overall apparent absence of the golden mean. The 16-year-olds do not simply remove themselves from the Amish environment but, with some exceptions, end up embracing a vulgar if not rebellious character as well. It's one thing to want to strike out on one's own and make something of oneself apart from the influences of relatives and churchgoers, and quite another to go from one extreme to the other -- from living in austere semi-abstinence to becoming a totally irresponsible and immoral hedonistic-nihilistic lapser. Quite sad, this.
Not only do these late Amish teens amid the Rumspringa phase like to spend their time dating, malling, moviegoing, partying, chilling, and cruising, but some become outright worldlings.
One of the film's main subjects is a young man who gets involved with drugs and has a hard time breaking free of the habit.
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND is focused on Amish youth, specifically, but it was interesting to learn some things about these particular rustics in general. We learn, for example, that the Amish church was founded in 1693, and that upon their getting married, Amish men grow beards, as a symbol akin to the traditional wedding ring. The common perception of the Amish is that they are camera-shy; however, a few clips from some home movies of theirs are shown here, enough to make one question this.
Rumspringa, from what I understand, is a period of sowing wild oats and gadding about; of reflection and partial self-discovery for some, and of never knowing what it means to be a Prodigal son or daughter for others.
Elsewhere, there exists religious communities, sects and offshoots that may not be as communally cloistered from the world as the Amish and Mennonites are, but who nevertheless teach their flocks of the world beyond their overly-protective ideological boundaries as being of the Devil's domain. Which is to say, DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND has I think a somewhat universal appeal, that many youngsters of other faiths may relate to. That proverbial fork in the road, after all, is not just restricted to the Amish.
That religious communities such as these have managed to remain relatively detached from modern society for as long as they have, is rather extraordinary. Generation upon generation, these rustic folks have produced seemingly inborn ruralists at home in a pastoral setting. At least that's what I thought, until I watched this thoroughly absorbing documentary.
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND utterly transformed my thinking of the Amish. Hitherto, I'd assumed adolescents within this faith were content with living off the land, tending to fields -- the young men more than happy with their old-fashioned mode of transportation and the young women ever eager to get down to crocheting and baking for the rest of their domestic lives. Little did I realize that paradise is not as close-knit as I'd once thought it to be.
At sixteen, Amish youngsters have to decide whether they want to continue on in the church, or experience the outside world and perhaps opt for disassociation instead. There are those who simply want to feel what it is like to be physically and psychologically independent for a while, before returning to the family nest and the isolationist fold. Others, meanwhile, end up dropping out of Amish society altogether, preferring living in sin and with electricity to fiddle-playing hoedowns and their neo-Luddite heritage.
What struck me most about the Rumspringa period as portrayed in this film is the overall apparent absence of the golden mean. The 16-year-olds do not simply remove themselves from the Amish environment but, with some exceptions, end up embracing a vulgar if not rebellious character as well. It's one thing to want to strike out on one's own and make something of oneself apart from the influences of relatives and churchgoers, and quite another to go from one extreme to the other -- from living in austere semi-abstinence to becoming a totally irresponsible and immoral hedonistic-nihilistic lapser. Quite sad, this.
Not only do these late Amish teens amid the Rumspringa phase like to spend their time dating, malling, moviegoing, partying, chilling, and cruising, but some become outright worldlings.
One of the film's main subjects is a young man who gets involved with drugs and has a hard time breaking free of the habit.
DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND is focused on Amish youth, specifically, but it was interesting to learn some things about these particular rustics in general. We learn, for example, that the Amish church was founded in 1693, and that upon their getting married, Amish men grow beards, as a symbol akin to the traditional wedding ring. The common perception of the Amish is that they are camera-shy; however, a few clips from some home movies of theirs are shown here, enough to make one question this.
Rumspringa, from what I understand, is a period of sowing wild oats and gadding about; of reflection and partial self-discovery for some, and of never knowing what it means to be a Prodigal son or daughter for others.
Elsewhere, there exists religious communities, sects and offshoots that may not be as communally cloistered from the world as the Amish and Mennonites are, but who nevertheless teach their flocks of the world beyond their overly-protective ideological boundaries as being of the Devil's domain. Which is to say, DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND has I think a somewhat universal appeal, that many youngsters of other faiths may relate to. That proverbial fork in the road, after all, is not just restricted to the Amish.