“Devil’s Playground” is the term the Amish use for the world outside their own insular community. This documentary, with the same name, takes you into that “Devil’s Playground” as Amish teenagers practice “Rumspringa” (running around). At the same time the documentary is a candid look at Amish life. When an Amish child turns sixteen they may explore and experience the “English,” non Amish world, the “Devil’s Playground.” Only after this “running around” phase, it’s believed, will they be able to make the decision, to be baptized into the Amish religion, which was founded on the principle that no one should be baptized as a Christian until he or she is able to make that decision for themselves.
In theory this sounds like a reasonable notion, since once you join the church, it’s for life. Amish life is secure in that you are part of the community. Your goal is to live a good life, one that will get you into heaven ultimately. Too much education is considered “prideful” so Amish children are told to leave school after eighth grade and begin working. Teenagers have grown up in a world without television, cars or electricity, although there are some solar or battery-powered devices.
Devil’s Playground, directed by Lucy Walker, opens with a horse trotting along pulling an Amish carriage down a country road as an automobile whizzes by. The horse pulling the carriage “clips-clops” down the asphalt road while you learn that the Amish Church was founded in 1693 in Europe. It’s members were burned at the stake for believing it was wrong to baptize infants. By 1860 all the Amish in Europe had migrated to the Americas. The Amish have done well in the United States.
The Amish depicted in the documentary seem to be living mainly in Indiana, but there are large Amish enclaves in Ohio and Pennsylvania as well. The Amish don’t like to be photographed so director Lucy Walker has accomplished much by recording some aspects of Amish life, interviewing adults and working with several key teenagers who are having difficulties with their “Rumsringa” experience. Most teenagers, ninety percent, have their fling in the “Devil’s Playground” but op for coming back, joining the religion and returning to traditional Amish life.
Walker focuses on a several teenagers who are having difficulties. The choices they face are severe. There is no middle ground, no living in both worlds. Young women must choose between the opportunities available for women in mainstream American and the Amish choice of being a housewife and mother for the rest of their lives. There’s no television or electricity in Amish homes, which may contribute to the large number of children women bear in a typical Amish family. Young men must choose between the American life style, including cars, pocket-money and other activities opposed to being part of the Amish community which means working on the family farm, in one of the Amish businesses making furniture and other products.
The biggest frustration for the teenagers is that they are totally unprepared and under educated for life outside the Amish community. This results in depression and anxiety leading to alcohol and drug abuse among some Amish youth. Devil’s Playground depicts this problem by interviewing and showing the progress of Faron, Velda, Joann, Emma and other teenagers.
Faron develops a drug problem both using and selling crack. One of the girls works her way through many difficulties trying to find a life in the world outside the Amish community. Another girl decides to go back to the Amish life. Faron and Emma establish a relationship but face questions about which life to live. However, the “Rumspringa” experience for many teenagers appears to be a big opportunity to “party.”
Devil’s Playground is a documentary structured and edited in a way that pulls the viewer into the actuality of the subject’s experience. The story is told in a narrative fashion based on three acts. There does not appear to be any apparent exaggeration or staging of events. Editing allows the action and interviews with the subjects to be presented as a story. This type of nonfiction presentation relies on Direct Cinema style shooting and added interviews. The story comes together in the editing room. With certain reservations the documentary has some “salvage anthropology” or ethnographic overtones.
Devil’s Playground gives sincere insight into the Amish community and “Rumspringa,” as the teenagers experience it. It is important to note that ninety percent of the young adults decide to become part of the Amish religion after this experience. One contributing factor to this high rate may be the fact that their Amish families are supportive and being baptized into the religion brings security and shelter from the outside world.
J R Martin
Devils Playground – 2001 – Stick Figure Productions – 77 min. – Directed by Lucy Walker – Selection Sundance Film Festival
TRAILER
[amazon_image id=”B00007GVM0″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Devil’s Playground[/amazon_image]
Books by James R Martin
Documentary Directing and Storytelling
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[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]