Devil's Playground (DVD, 2002) ****
Lucy Walker, Director, Stick Figure Productions, USA
On the ten year anniversary of Devil’s Playground, aka Rumspringa, I endeavoured to see this Amish-oriented documentary for the first time. As
a Mennonite, I had formerly avoided this film and its marketing imagery
as probably catering to the larger American media appetite for scandal,
questionable morality and iconoclastism. I was greatly
surprised to find a film that was straightforward, respectful without
being overly romantic and that one that dealt with very real issues
while allowing the characters to speak for themselves. Part
of the strength of the film comes from the self-confessions of the
directors and production team that they had experienced difficulty
finding an angle or even an “in” for the making of what had begun as a
rather undefined documentary project on Amish teens. Rather,
the team comprised of Lucy Walker, Steven Cantor, Pax Wassermann and
Daniel Kern was forced to discover the topic while filming and to allow
the characters to emerge of their own accord. No agenda, positive or negative – was possible in that the team had little control over the subject matter. According to the production commentary, the project evolved more like a news story than a scripted documentary.
Lucy Walker, Director, Stick Figure Productions, USA
On the ten year anniversary of Devil’s Playground, aka Rumspringa, I endeavoured to see this Amish-oriented documentary for the first time. As
a Mennonite, I had formerly avoided this film and its marketing imagery
as probably catering to the larger American media appetite for scandal,
questionable morality and iconoclastism. I was greatly
surprised to find a film that was straightforward, respectful without
being overly romantic and that one that dealt with very real issues
while allowing the characters to speak for themselves. Part
of the strength of the film comes from the self-confessions of the
directors and production team that they had experienced difficulty
finding an angle or even an “in” for the making of what had begun as a
rather undefined documentary project on Amish teens. Rather,
the team comprised of Lucy Walker, Steven Cantor, Pax Wassermann and
Daniel Kern was forced to discover the topic while filming and to allow
the characters to emerge of their own accord. No agenda, positive or negative – was possible in that the team had little control over the subject matter. According to the production commentary, the project evolved more like a news story than a scripted documentary.
Devil’s Playground offers two strengths to Anabaptists. First, it is a greatly informative look into the very real lives of Amish teens and the concept of rumspringa. Though
the Conservative Amish are often careful to separate themselves from
their Mennonite and Mennonite-Amish cousins, there is much in this story
that is shared between the more liberal and more conservative branches
of this culture – even more so as you go back one and two generations
for the Mennonites. Secondly, for those who are able to
read the “bonnet code,” an informed Anabaptist will see Mennonite and
Amish film footage juxtaposed against each other to form a seamless
celebration of a common ethnic and religious heritage.
