Review 308: Witness

Witness is a wonderful and beautiful thriller and one of Peter Weir's best films and really mesmerising love story as well.

Samuel (Lukas Haas), a young Amish boy, witnesses a murder in the restroom of a Philadelphia bus station. Police detective, John Book (Harrison Ford) is assigned to investigate the murder. When Book discovers that the crime was part of a conspiracy involving several officials in his department, he flees Philadelphia to the Amish community where Samuel lives with his widowed mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis). Slowly assimilating himself into the Amish community, Book eventually finds himself falling in love with Rachel in the midst of his investigation.

The plot is wonderful, not only is it a wonderful love story and an intense thriller, it's a story about morality, differences, rights and wrongs, love and choice.

Choice: Witness is primarily a story about the choices we make in life, and the choices that other people make for us: Rachel has to decide whether to follow her heart and remain with Book or stay with her people.

Morality and Differences: Because they are from different backgrounds and have different beliefs, John and Rachel have different ways of approaching life but they agree with the triumph of good over evil.
It's also fascinating to see the Armish world from John Book's point of view and to see the ordinary world from  Rachel's point of view.
Ways we see the Armish from John's point of view is when we see them working together to put up a new building.   

Love: At the heart of the film, is a love story but a very tense and touching one at that. As John adjusts to Amish life he falls in love with Rachel and it doesn't go well with her father who fears she will be kicked out of the community or wether she will give up her life and stay with John. Over time we grow to care for these tow lovers and we worry about how their relationship will work out. Will he stay or will he leave?

Director Peter Weir's direction is superb and precise, the cinematography is splendid (and captures the simple living environment of the Armish), the scenery is breathtaking, the score by Maurice Jarre is beautiful, the costumes are gorgeous, the production design is superb, the make up is rich, it's well paced, the tension is killing and the ending was excellent.

The acting is superb, Harrison Ford shows once again how incredible an actor he is, he is a tough cop who has to deal with the murder of a fellow cop as well as protect this Armish woman and her son which puts him in a very interesting position. After he is injured and taken into the care of the Armish, he learns their ways, his ways of dealing with situations are tested and he falls in love with Rachel which leads us to question whether he'll leave her or stay with her.

Kelly McGillis is luminous as Rachel, she starts out as a typical Armish woman with no interest in "our" but when her son Samuel witnesses a fellow cop get canned, she has no choice to co-operate with John Book and try to fit in with society to stay safe.
When John is injured, targeted by corrupt police and goes into hiding in the Armish community, she flaws in love with him but she realises she is in dilema and she has to decide weather to stay with her family or follow her heart.

Lukas Haas is really likeable as Samuel, he just an innocent, nice little Armish boy who witnesses a murder and he and his mom have to go under the protection of John Book. Whilst John goes into hiding he grows attached to him and looks up to him as a father figure and wants him to stay just as much as Rachel does.

Jan Rubes is very wise and gentle as Eli Lapp, Rachel's father, like most good fathers he loves his daughter and fears for her safety and that fear isn't just another father fearing for his daughters safety, he realises John is an outsider and leads a dangerous life and knows the corrupt police are sure to come out and look for him putting the Armish community in danger. He also fears for his daughters choice of either staying or leaving with John.

Josef Sommer and Danny Glover are mysterious as the less than helpful police, they are very manipulative and find ways to tell innocent people where they're victims are such as in a scene where they interrogate John sister.

Also the rest if the cast is great.

Witness is a wonderfully entertaining thriller, beautiful love story and a showcase for an excellent performance by Harrison Ford, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.