"The Amish," an "American Experience" Film on PBS David Belton confronted a formidable challenge in directing "The Amish": Make an almost two-hour documentary about a group of people who don't allow themselves to be interviewed on camera. That restriction causes him to pull out every oblique and dimly lighted shot in his kit bag, but the resulting program, Tuesday's "American Experience" episode on PBS, is remarkably watchable, beautiful even. Is it a complete portrait? Not when juxtaposed against recent headlines about an apparent Ponzi scheme centered on an Amish community in Ohio. Still, the program looks far more thoughtfully at the Amish world than outsiders usually do. Mr. Belton begins his yearlong examination from a voyeur's vantage point, with a summer tour group in Intercourse, Pa. It's a fitting start, since many Americans view the Amish as curiosities to be ogled. "It's a mystery to me why they come by the millions to look at us," says an Amish man (heard, like others, in a voice-over). I guess it's the simple life and the cute kids and the buggy and the cows in the pasture. It's all visual. But anybody's kids are cute. There are more than 250,000 Amish in the United States and Canada, the only places they live today, we're told. They are Anabaptists - believers are baptized when they are adults, not as infants - and began heading to Pennsylvania from Europe in the early 18th century. Among the modern conveniences that the Amish shun, of course, are cars, and Mr. Belton gives his film a buggylike pace, savoring pastoral scenes and framing them gorgeously. He covers the history of the group, which includes early persecution in Europe. "That has really stayed in the DNA of Amish culture and Amish history," says Donald B. Kraybill, a sociologist. It's not unlike slavery for African-Americans. It's not unlike the Holocaust for Jews. There's this sense of being a separated people, of being a minority people, of being cautious about what the outside world might do to you again. In recent memory that includes the 2006 schoolhouse shooting in Nickel Mines, Pa., in which five Amish girls died, an episode that is respectfully covered but not allowed to take over the program. Mr. Belton gives as much time to less dramatic encounters with modernity, like court clashes over whether Amish parents can be compelled, against their beliefs, to send their children to high school. The program examines how popular perception of the Amish has changed to suit the needs of the culture. At some points they have been viewed as backward renegades, at others the embodiment of virtuous simplicity. Neither view is completely accurate. The Ohio Ponzi case, in which an Amish man is accused of defrauding investors, most of them Amish, of millions of dollars, is not scrutinized in the program; read a little about it and you may wonder if Mr. Belton has succumbed somewhat to the starry-eyed view of Amish life. Though he notes how hard the Amish can be on those who are raised in the sect but turn their backs on it, he doesn't explore too deeply their interactions with the outside world. Watching this program, you'd never know that the Amish had millions of dollars to invest. Mr. Belton doesn't delve into the finances of Amish families or businesses, or related topics, like whether the Amish exploit their own image to attract tourist dollars. So the program, illuminating as it is, still feels a bit like those tourists: peering in, not quite seeing the whole story. American Experience The Amish On PBS stations on Tuesday night (check local listings). Produced by Sarah Colt Productions for American Experience. Written and directed by David Belton; Callie T. Wiser, producer; Elizabeth Shea, associate producer; Sarah Colt, senior producer; Tim Cragg, cinematographer; Chyld King, editor; original music by Saunder Jurriaans and Daniel Bensi; Mark Samels, executive producer for American Experience