It took courage to live among...Hazel's People

Happy As the Grass Was Green still stands as one of the few Mennonite-related films ever made. Graham Beckel plays an aimless hippie who visits his friend's Pennsylvania home town on the occasion of his friend's brother's death. The community is primarily Mennonite, whose lifestyle intrigues Beckel. Slowly undergoing a religious conversion, Beckel elects to renounce beads and bongs to join the small, devoutly religious community. While the cast includes such recognizable favorites as Pat Hingle and Geraldine Page, most of the cast of Happy As the Grass Was Green consists of genuine Pennsylvanian Mennonites. The film was based on a novel by Merle Good.

Eric is an adamant fighter for human rights who discovers a way of life he never knew existed. He goes to Mennonite country to attend the funeral of his best friend who was killed in a campus riot. The bitterness and hostility he feels is challenged when he meets a young Mennonite girl named Hazel.

The Mennonites display an inner peace he can’t understand. As he works side by side with these simple and gentle people, he witnesses a demonstration of their love and forgiveness towards their fellow man.

Through the counsel and witness of Hazel and her people, Eric comes to understand the source of their peace. The bitterness and hatred he’s been harboring is transformed to love as he learns of a personal faith in a living Christ.

Release Date: August 1978

Distrib: Gateway Films