AMISH STUD: THE ELI WEAVER STORY
US, 2023, 85 minutes, Colour.
Luke MacFarlane, Kirsten Bangsness, Miranda MacDougall, Brent Stait, Mark Krisko, Claire Filipow, Karolina Cubatt.
Directed by Stacey N..Harding.
There is a certain curiosity when the film has Amish in its title. Memories of Peter Weir’s classic, Witness.
However, this is a different kind of story. And it is based on actual events and characters.
The title indicates the theme of the film. It was made for television, a Hallmark production, the company noted for its very popular entertainments for a wide television audience. And this is the case with the treatment here.
Luke MacFarlane (Bros) plays Eli Weaver, brought up in the Amish community, rebellious attitudes, moving out and experiencing a freer life, drinking, gambling, relationships with women. However, he returns to the community, asking for forgiveness and reconciliation. And he is accepted, marries a young woman who has been long infatuated with him, has children, but it is an unhappy marriage, he making sexual demands on her that seem not in keeping with Amish teaching, setting up a business with assistance from outsiders, keeping a mobile phone, keeping up contacts.
Early in the film, it is established that she has been killed. He is the main suspect but he has an alibi, out fishing at the time with a friend. When the police want to investigate and send detectives, the Amish leadership close up, stating that they want to solve the issues within the community.
There are flashbacks to the life of the family, the hardships of the wife, the brutality of Eli Weaver, his lies, his double standards.
The sister of the dead woman is suspicious, voices her suspicions, searches for evidence, eventually finding a diary that a psychiatrist had advised the woman to keep. In the meantime, Eli Weaver makes contact with the women with whom he had liaisons, some defending him, some remembering the past. Most of them had supplied him with money. However, the key woman is his Sec at his company, infatuated with him, married with a rather placid husband at home, flattered by Weaver’s attentions, she believes he is in love with her and goes along with a plan to murder his wife, doing online searches for poisons and ways of shooting, his giving her a rifle, leaving home, going to the house, killing his wife.
She is arrested, not helped by Weaver, in court, found guilty, an outburst against him. He then is tried for complicity, is sentenced to jail, continues to exercise his charm in prison.
The factual information at the end of the film indicates that he is due for parole in 2024.
