Witness

Too many times is the 80's seen as just a shallow, popcorn era. Witness is one of the examples that prove that the 80's was just as much an era of beautifully crafted, thoughtful movies as any other.

Harrison Ford, in a daring break from his previous diet of blockbusters, stars as John Book, a hardened but decent and honest Philadelphia detective. A young Amish boy called Samuel, stunningly played by Lukas Haas in his debut, is the only witness to the murder of a Philly undercover detective at a train station and Ford is the investigating officer.

This is Samuel's first visit to the city, away from the familiar surroundings of the Amish community --and what an eventful one it proves to be. Australian Director Peter Weir does a fantastic job of portraying things from the boy's point of view and doesn't miss a trick in showing us just how strange and unfamilar the city is to Samuel and his mother.

Book's hardened street cop ways are fascinating to Samuel and very upsetting to his mother, admirably played by Kelly McGillis. His investigative methods and Samuel's inevitable exposure to things that threaten his innocence are brilliantly shown in such a way that takes you inside their characters and shows you the world through their untainted eyes.

As the plot thickens however, Book is forced to abandon the city and having been badly wounded, return the boy and his mother to the safety (and anonymity) of their Amish Community --where he promptly collapses.

As he recuperates, it gives us the chance for a reversal of the displacement -- It's now Book's turn to be in a world thats alien to him and we now see much of it through his eyes.

So brilliantly are these characters respective displacements handled that I'm sure that this movie is probably used in film schools in the teaching of bias. Weir is able to show us each world in a way that the 'outsider' sees it --switching and role reversing midway without missing a beat.

He also deals with the material in a very sensitive and even handed way. The Amish are portrayed honestly and sincerely [for pretty much the first time on film]and their strength simply shines through. Under less skilled direction, this film could easily have gone very badly wong, leaving the Amish looking foolish and out-of-touch.

A good chunk of the credit for the overall package must also go to cinematographer John Seale for his lush vistas and achieving the rare trick of beautiful pictures without resorting to 'glossy' and over saturated colour. Also composer Maurice Jarre's haunting and quite surreal music helps to ease us into the different worlds without too much of a jolt.

As you will see from the DVD section of the page, Paramount have decided to release this excellent movie on DVD in both the USA and Europe --complete with a widescreen enhanced picture and remixed Dolby digital 5.1 sound. The disc also contains a trailer and interview with Weir.