The Confession

This is quite an engrossing soap opera with an Amish element the second in the trilogy. Katie LeClerc takes over from Danielle Pannabaker. She goes to find her birth Mom. But the nefarious Husband of her birth mother gets an imposter to pretend to be her to get the money. Poor thing. But this well plotted story has a solution that is logical and feel good. Worth watching.

I watched the movie called "The Confession" last night. It seemed as though it was directed by someone with Down Syndrome, as everything was a bit off and slow moving. Then, I discovered the directors name was: Michael Landon, Jr. That's right "Little Joe" from Bonanza's son. Adrian Paul was also in it. This was one of Paul's "paycheck player" roles, and is not worth viewing if you're a fan. Even though it was a "Hallmark" film, I expected more pizazz than what was delivered. The only reason that I would give it as high a rating as I did, was because the house that was used in upstate New York was a very classy home. I would love to have a kitchen similar to the one that is in that house. I would never watch this movie, again!

My first reaction was; Michael Landon's son directed? I want to see it. I was a huge fan of Michael Landon and figured Little House on The Prairie is a show I grew up loving, let's see what Pa's boy has learned! The Confession has nothing to do with the 1800s as the Laura Ingalls Wilder series but it has as much heart as any Little House on The Prairie show that I grew up crying over.

Socialite Laura, is dying. She has a progressive form of cancer. On her quest to get her life in order she had set out to find a daughter she gave up to be raised by an Amish family in Lancaster. Now hearing that her cancer has progressed she is preparing for the end. Katie hears her birth mother was looking for her and heads to NY to find her only to be informed that Laura has already passed, thanks to Laura's selfish husband who has a plan of his own. His problems have gotten him in some hot water and he needs all of Laura's money. Thanks to a well meaning NY friend with a terrible fake accent (there were many poorly acted fake accents), Katie is reassured that if a socialite had passed it would be all over the news and someone is lying. Sooo...Katie sets out to meet her momma.

Things take an interesting turn when Katie arrives and finds out that Laura's daughter has already arrived.

Back in Lancaster, Katie's family is dealing with the return of an old friend while the modern world tries to infiltrate their very beliefs as and Amish family.

The movie moves quickly and while there are a few plot oddities that are unexplainable but would give the whole movie away if I were to list them. I didn't hate it.

The things that may turn viewers off:

Katie leaves her Amish family for the lavish life style seemingly quick.

Laura figures the deceit going on under her roof and explains it away with a letter Katie sent out to her Amish family. You really need to piece it together and remember what Katie had written to her parents.

The ending was God awful. As of now there is no green light for a sequel and the ending demands one.

7.4 stars.

I liked this one better than 'The Shunning', because there is more to the story and it's not totally shrouded in an Amish atmosphere. The producers could have made the first one better if they had provided more to the story, given us more variety and simply enlarged it a bit more. I certainly didn't enjoy the fact they dropped the original actress for this one. But I'm guessing she chose not to be in this for her own reasons. So we are left with this actress, who at first does not satisfy my subtle desire for continuity and consistency, however she grows on you. Actually, the actress who plays her doppelganger of sorts, was actually a better fit for the leading role. I actually liked her more.

Overall 'The Confession' is not a better film than 'The Shunning' in most respects, like cinematography, acting, music...but what was ten times better is the storyline, writing and dialogue. And we had a sinister man with a sinister plot to get the inheritance (not really sinister, but it was criminal). Just that aspect alone elevates this film above the first. I am somewhat disappointed to have no choice but rate this higher, because the first one was much higher quality production (in my opinion). If only they had made this a two movie set instead of three and stayed with the original actress...

I wonder why the title is such "the confession.." i have to give it a 10 for the very nice background music at the start and the single song rendered by Cathryn towards the end of the movie.. (what's the title of the song?)

The story has some flaws but as a whole it is very likable .. and the story kept me seated as what will happen next... the end is so beautiful and emotional .. the scenes where they spend the remaining days together was just too much emotions words cannot describe...match with a beautiful song ...

Other than the ending ..My favorite part is .....when it was announced ..my daughter Cathryn...and sadly the real Cathryn could only watch the fake Cathryn walked in the scene and assumed her part as the daughter... she could not believe what happen to her ...

This is one movie i'm sure a lot of drama avid viewers will agree that it's worth watching again..