Witness (1985)-"R"

Run Time:112 minutes

3 and 1/2 stars out of 4

Peter Weir's 1985 Witness is a beautifully shot, well-acted, and entertaining piece of film. Set in the Amish farming country of Pennsylvania, the plot centers on a recently widowed Amish woman, Rachel Lapp (played by Kelly McGinnis), and her son Samuel (Lukas Haas). While on the way to visit Rachel's sister in Baltimore, Lukas witnesses, while hiding in a bathroom stall, the murder of a man who turns out to be a police officer. Hardened Philadelphia Police Detective John Book (Harrison Ford), assigned to solve the case, soon learns from Samuel that the man who committed the crime is a corrupt narcotics officer, McFee (Danny Glover). After being shot by McFee in an attempt to halt the investigation, Book is forced to retreat into hiding in the Amish country with the Latts. While recovering, Book begins to fall for Rachel, despite their extreme cultural differences and the fact that the longer he remains, the longer he endangers Samuel's life. In making Witness, I think Peter Weir had several difficult objectives in mind. For one, he faced the challenge of making a film about the Amish that was engaging and interesting for viewers, yet without resorting to stereotypes or clichés. This is no easy task when dealing with a people as misunderstood and unknown as the Amish, especially considering that this was the native Australian Weir's first American-based film. Yet, despite the subject matter, in Witness we get a story as intriguing and exciting as any blockbuster thriller. The action, however, is never the focus of the film; the story is instead told with dialogue and cinematographer John Seale's beautiful visuals. This is accomplished, I think, through Weir's especially developed talent of character development. The audience feels, understands, and cares for all of the protagonists. Ford, with his trademark sarcastic humor, and McGinnis, with her quiet presence and beauty, truly bring their characters to life. In making Witness, Weir also wanted to show the huge contrast in cultures between John Book's modern world of crime and violence, and the Latts' centuries-old world of simple farming and peace. The love that forms between Book and Rachel is especially demonstrative of the huge differences between their two worlds. When Book plays music from her car stereo for Rachel and they dance, we cringe at the inevitable entrance of Rachel's father and his disapproval of the music. Not only is Book non-Amish and living in the modern American world of technology, but he is also a police officer who carries a gun, violating the pacifist beliefs of the Amish. He brings his weapon and the threat of danger into the Latts' lives, a fact that Rachel and her father cannot ignore, and only makes the love between them more impossible. With the talented acting of a skilled cast, the careful character-oriented direction of Peter Weir, and the beautiful scenery and images of John Seale, Witness emerges as a powerful and original film. Though some scenes in it may seem formulaic (the shootout at the end especially), the way in which the material is handled and the situations in which the limited action occurs prevents them from detracting from the overall feel of the film.