Like most people I first saw Devil's Playground on HBO, somewhat fascinated by this investigation into the Amish tradition of rumspringa, which sets the society's 16-year-olds loose into the world of the "english" -- all the rock music, cars, cigarettes, booze, drugs, and haircuts you can stomach. The Amish want you to choose their way of life, not be forced into it. It's an honorable idea, but -- as Devil's Playground indicates -- hardly a simple transformation.

As you might expect, the bulk of Devil's Playground follows its various subjects on beer, drug, and TV benders. It's fascinating stuff -- the boys wear english clothes; the girls stick with traditional Amish garb; both sexes run wild at a mini-rave. It's insanity. There's Amish kids on Rollerblades, for God's sakes!

At the same time, a lot of Playground is really familiar, treading dangerously close to Jerry Springer and Girls Gone Wild material. After about 30 minutes, I'd seen enough to get the drift -- it's a hard choice, and about 10% of kids decide not to "go Amish," but the vast majority do. Amish kids are just as rotten as regular kids. Amish families face the same challenges you and I do, buttons or no.

The DVD features a commentary track (and I'm always suspicious of documentaries with commentary tracks -- why didn't just put it into the movie?) which is largely disposable. The deleted scenes are also worth a peek but little more.