Amish Abduction (2019 Lifetime)
Cast: Sara Canning, Steve Byers, Gabrielle Rose
Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!
Please buy me a coffee (or glass of 🍷) Support Lifetime Uncorked by leaving a $3 tip.
Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Amish wife and mother, Annie’s life, turns upside down after her husband leaves to live among “normal Americans.” However, things turn direr when he returns, seeking custody of their son by any means necessary.
Thoughts
An Amish woman is looking for her son Caleb. She is screaming like Goody Procter after she found out her husband was cheating with Abigail. (I know they weren’t Amish, but they dress the same!)
These Amish people live in modern times; a car whizzes past Jacob as he is on this way home with groceries for his family. His wife Annie and Son Caleb are waiting for him. Jacob seems OVER IT. His wife tells him to stop all this devil talk and sends him to fix the barn. Annie follows him and finds him buying whiskey with Samuel from a town local. When the local calls Jacob “Farmer Ted,” he punches him in the face sending the man falling backward. The local man hits his dead on a rock and dies. Jacob stays out late into the night, taking care of the body by burying it in a shallow grave.
Annie misses the murder but is concerned about her husband. She asks her parents for advise; they tell her to be there for his husband and ask for God’s grace. They pray.
The police show up to the village and are investigating the death of Wilson Miller. (The local man.) Annie recognizes the man and covers for her husband. When she confronts Jacob for drinking, he deflects her questions and shows her a smartphone. He wants to live with the English and bring his wife and family with him. Annie tells him, no, calls him a disgrace, and storms off before he can hit her.
The next morning Annie wakes up to find Caleb and her husband missing. Jacob leaves a note for Annie and tells her that he has hired a lawyer and will be filing for sole custody for their son. He views the Amish lifestyle as abusive. Annie and her parents pray for three days, but then she decides to take action. She plans to go to the custody hearing. (Only after getting approval from her father.) They give her money and send her with Thomas (Jacob’s brother) to get back her son.
In the city, Thomas and Annie see where Jacob and Caleb are staying. It looks like your typical suburban house with bad landscaping. They sneak into the back yard and see a pool, and then Annie lets herself into the house. While practically putting her head in a microwave, Annie hears a phone ring and hides. Jacob comes downstairs in a towel, and he is looking cornfed and beefy. Later, Jacob tells Caleb that his mother is never coming to be with them and forces him to wear a sweater and watch TV. (Caleb is resistant and wants to go home.)
Annie and Thomas go to Chines dinner, and they are surprised by the paper in the fortune cookie. They take the fortunes to heart and seem to be enjoying each other’s company, like romanticly. When they get into their hotel room, they notice it only has one bed and a music box! (The alarm clock, kills the mood.) Thomas sleeps in the bathtub to be respectful. (Or to be like Stephanie Tanner. He wouldn’t know that though because he never watched Full House.) In the middle of the night, Annie asks Thomas to sleep next to her bed on the floor. They talk about court the next day and how nervous she is. It is here I started to wonder is Thomas could be hot without the Amish beard and long hair. Wait, am I in love with Thomas?
In the court hearing, the judge hears both sides of the case. The judge knows a good mother when she sees one. She disagrees with Jacob’s poor judgment and reckless behavior. When she says so, Jacob gets aggressive, causing the judge to decide that sole custody goes to Annie. Jacob tells Annie she will regret this and gets restrained by the bailiff. He accuses his brother, Thomas, of trying to steal his wife and kid. Then Jacob beats Thomas senseless in the parking lot. (Yikes! This is intense!)
In the hospital, Thomas is recovering but tells Annie to go back to the village where they will be safe.
Back at their home in a Villiage, Annie locks the doors and windows but is understandably uneasy. She recalls the time she had a miscarriage, and this may have been the catalyst for Jacob’s downward spiral. The next morning we pick up where the movie started, Annie screaming for “Caleb!” It turns out he was playing in the barn, which is dangerous because a beam is damaged, and Jacob never fixed it.
Annie finds Samual, and he is drunk drunk drunk. He tells Annie that Jacob is coming back to kidnap her son. The men in the Villiage tell Annie to honor her husband, and she is like “H.E. double hockey sticks, no! This man is dangerous.”
In the middle of the night, Annie wakes up to the sound of photographs being taken. Jacob is taking pictures of her and Caleb while they sleep. He won’t let her take what is his. Annie tells him they are not his property and threatens to call the police. Jacob grabs Caleb and punches Annie. Annie fights back and then makes a run for it. She heads to the barn with Caleb and hides in the horse stables. Jacob is close behind, and Annie tries to fight him off with a shovel. Jacob is about to strangle his wife to death, but she pushes him off of her with such force that he hits the wall and sends the barn beam crashing down on Jacob’s head. He survives, barely. (Annie uses his smartphone to call 911. Is that Ironic?)
Thomas and Annie cook romantically in a kitchen. They are starting a new family without Jacob around. He kept the fortune cookie message, and Annie is touched. They hold hands, which is XXX rated for this movie.
Side Note
Minority Report: The Judge
This was a very unusual Lifetime movie. I was very interested in it, surprisingly!
Directed by Ali Liebert, who is featured in a lot of Hallmark movies.
Don’t forget to listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Donate to keep the blog and podcast going 😊
Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
🍷 (1 glasses of wine required, but the Amish will judge you.)
*Photo Credit: © 2019 Lifetime
