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From: steven@ism70.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: notes on Witness
Message-ID: <68@ism70.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Feb-85 01:30:38 EST
Article-I.D.: ism70.68
Posted: Wed Feb 13 01:30:38 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Feb-85 02:16:45 EST
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Nf-ID: #N:ism70:13100075:000:2829
Nf-From: ism70!steven    Feb 11 14:40:00 1985


WITNESS

Starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis.

Also starring Josef Sommer, Jan Rubes, Lukas Haas, Alexander
Godunov and Danny Glover.

Directed by Peter Weir. Written by William Kelley and Earl W.
Wallace.  Story by William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace and Pamela
Wallace.  Produced by Edward S. Feldman.

Photographed by John Seale. Production Designed by Stan Jolley.
Edited by Thom Noble.  Music by Maurice Jarre.

From Paramount Pictures (1985)

I didn't enjoy _W_i_t_n_e_s_s as much as I could have, I guess. The film
boasts some nice scenes and good chemistry between the two
leads, but the film fails to address a fatal structural flaw that
makes it drag on from the middle to the concluding scenes.

The young son of the Amish (and newly widowed) Rachel (Kelly
McGillis) witnesses a murder while on a train trip. Enter
Harrison Ford, as Detective John Book of the Philly Police
Department. Book manages to get an identification of the killer
from the child (Lukas Haas), but when it becomes clear to him
that other police officers are involved in the killings, Book
must flee to the Amish countryside with his witness.

So far, so good. So what happens next? _N_o_t_h_i_n_g. At least, nothing
that advances the plot of the story. Ford holes up in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania and tries to blend into the Amish
countryside. He and Rachel strike the sparks of forbidden love.
The movie, as usual for Peter Weir, is elegantly photographed and
impeccably acted. McGillis and Ford have a strong erotic
chemistry that makes their scenes work. We have plenty to watch
and discover.  Yet, the narrative stalls out almost completely
until the screenwriters look at their watch and say, "Whoops, 20
minutes left, better let the bad guys find out where Harrison is
hiding." (Which isn't even that much of a spoiler if you've seen
the 30 second TV spot or the trailer that Paramount has
released.)

With a structural hole like that in the middle of the narrative
(it's an okay flick except nothing happens for an hour), it's
hard for me to get excited about _W_i_t_n_e_s_s. Weir explores the Amish
existence very sensitively and carefully. No one gets
overemotional about the potentially disruptive influence in their
community. And Ford's character wishes to remain as anonymous as
possible. The writers have painted themselves into a corner, able
only to give us a delicate travelogue instead of the kind of
conflict that would point up the different worlds that Ford and
McGillis travel in. Including that conflict would have made
_W_i_t_n_e_s_s stronger, perhaps.  Perhaps not.  It would certainly have
diverted the movie from its suspense origins, though I suspect
that Weir cared less about the cop stuff anyway.  But I missed
the conflict. I wanted it.

Two and a half stars out of four.