The Amish are one of the most surprising communities in the United States. Living as in the 17th century, they have neither electricity nor running water and travel in horse-drawn carts. Mostly farmers, they lead an austere, almost self-sufficient existence. For them, only the word of the Lord counts, whose Biblical principles they follow to the letter, drawing inspiration from their founder, Jacob Amman.
How can we bring together an ancestral ideology and this consumer civilization pushed to the extreme? What sense does it make, at the start of the 21st century, to live according to 400-year-old rules?
This film offers a rare immersion in a community reputed to be the most closed in the world, in a frozen world where the old remains the absolute reference in the face of a modernity deemed “stale”. Three generations of Amish agreed to tell their stories after months of reflection and debate with their pastors! They are among the most conservative. Their speech is rare.
Beyond the simple divide between an archaic way of life and the modern world, this documentary also raises other issues such as the notion of individual freedom, belonging to a minority, the questioning of an economic and social model and much more. -of course, the place of women.
Director: Mélanie Van Der Ender