Witness (2005, DVD)

Films about cultural differences have always struck to me as being the more interesting films out in the market today. This is mainly due to the fact that there is always a lot one can pick out from any of these films. Just look at Bend it Like Beckham. The cultural differences were what made the film such a hilarious film. Similarly, a film like The Pianist showed how cultural differences can split a nation apart. The film I just watched on DVD, Witness, also uses cultural differences to portray a thrilling film.

Witness, which is set in Pennsylvania in 1984, starts off with the funeral of Rachel Lipp s (Kelly McGillis) husband and soon after the funeral, she, along with her son Samuel (Lukas Haas), decide to spend some time with her sister, who lives in Baltimore. However, the two of them are stuck at the train station in Philadelphia as a result of a 3 hour delay. What follows changes the lives of both Samuel and Rachel forever.

While going to the toilet, Samuel witnesses a policeman being murdered and of course, the police are called in. Being the key witness of this murder, the boy soon meets John Book (Harrison Ford), the police officer in charge of the investigation. Book is the typical tough, macho police officer, whose only care is to get the case finished and over with as quickly as possible. However, he soon delves into problems of his own, when he finds out that not only was the police officer murdered by a top narcotics agent, James McFee (Danny Glover), but his boss, Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer; ironic how this is the same name as the pianist from the Letterman show V only different spelling), is also heavily involved with the murder. As a result, Book hides with Rachel and her Amish community in order to save himself from being murdered and at the same time, figure out what should be done about the investigation.

I know this has been said a lot of times, but this film is a very interesting but unorthodox study of cultural differences. It compares the city lifestyle to the lifestyle of an Amish community, the type of community which not many people have any knowledge about. It is interesting to see how the modern city lifestyle is always constantly moving forward and how the Amish lifestyle barely changes after many years. This can be seen through the clothes that they wear, the food that they eat, the carriages they use for transport and the living environment in which they live (i.e. the fact that there is no electricity amongst all other things). Also, the film does an effective job of showing how both societies have a hard time accepting each other for the way each society is (the Amish in this film call typical Americans the English , while the other Americans either poke fun at them or tourists want to take pictures with them thinking they are tourist attractions).

The intriguing part of this film is seeing Book, a true city cop, attempting to adjust to the rules of the simple, plain Amish lifestyle, which is the complete opposite of the extravagant, vain lifestyle that most of us live in. Doing chores such as milking the cows before the sun has risen and working out in the fields during the day are completely foreign to someone like Book, who is used to living in the city.

The film s art and set directors do a great job in recreating the Amish world. Not only is the backdrop of luscious corn fields perfect for the film, the use of the barns are perfect, the simplicity of the interior design in the house are most suitable for this film and the costumes fairly represent Amish clothing. This is further augmented by John Seale s brilliant cinematography, who really captures the scenic beauty of the Amish landscape through the camera.

Not only that, the film s screenplay also does a great job in showing the development of the relationship between Book and Rachel. The audience get to watch the two of them get closer and closer to each other as the film progresses. However, what is done very well is the fact that the two of them (and the audience) keep in mind that it cannot be possible for the two of them to be married, since an Amish woman has to marry an Amish man or else any Amish that breaks this law will be shunned by the community.

However, one problem in the screenplay is that we do not learn enough as to why Chief Schaeffer and McFee are trying to get rid of Book and his friends. Sure, there is mention of a narcotics case at the beginning of the film, but that does not quite clear up everything on why they killed the officer in the first place. Despite this minor complaint, the screenplay does very well to intertwine various subplots together and it makes for some exciting suspense throughout the film.

What also makes the film so convincing is its acting. Harrison Ford suits the role of John Book perfectly. It seems pretty clear that Ford did a lot of training for his role and as mentioned by the film s director Peter Weir, he was even involved in a few official police actions with the Philadelphia police. Ford portrays Book with a lot of cynicism and adds a hardened edge to his character, which makes you convinced that Ford must have been a cop before. He also does well enough to add a softer side to his character, which prevents his character from becoming one-dimensional. Ford should have won Best Actor in 1985, instead of William Hurt s somewhat overrated performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman. I was even more surprised by Kelly McGillis performance as the soft-spoken, peaceful Rachel. McGillis, who I am used to seeing in films like Top Gun, is absolutely convincing as an Amish woman and she adds a lot of vulnerability around her character. The contrasts between her character and Ford s character perfectly reflect each other. As for the supporting cast, Lukas Haas is perfect as Samuel and his young, innocent eyes are certainly very expressive, while Jan Rubes is very sympathetic and charming as Rachel s father. Although Danny Glover and Josef Sommer are reasonably convincing as the bad guys, they do not deliver particularly memorable performances in this film.

Australian director Peter Weir, one of my favourite directors, again shows why he is one of the best directors in the business. He paces the film at his own pace, which is at a pace where he can effectively develop the relationships in the film yet at the same time, show how the investigation unfolds. I also like the way Weir uses Maurice Jarre s folk-like score throughout the film. From what has been said before about recreating the Amish world, it is clear Weir spent a lot of time ensuring that this film was as authentic as possible and in the interview with the director on this DVD, he says it was extremely difficult to get together with the Amish elders and attempt to use the clothes, carriages and barns they used for the film.

In terms of special features, the DVD only contains the interview with Weir and the original trailer. Plus, the film can be heard in other languages and contains a multitude of subtitles. The interview is particularly good to watch, since you learn a lot about what went on before and during the making of the film. As for the trailer, it certainly does well to hide what really goes on in the film.

Witness is certainly a very good film and one that I highly recommend for anyone to see, particularly for those people who are fans of Harrison Ford s work. This is by far his best work and it certainly is one of Peter Weir s best pieces of directing.

Thanks for reading the review.