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| Witness |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 112 |
| Public Rating: 7.44 (27 votes) |
Director: Peter Weird |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Thriller/Drama |
Year: 1985 |
| Writer(s): William Kelley |
| Distributor: 1 |
| Reviewed by: Arturo García Lasca |
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I had seen this film before, long ago, but after watching the 2002 Golden Globes and having seen the award Harrison Ford got for his life work, I figured it would be nice to watch this film; Not that I went out and rented it, but I saw it would be on TV and I decided to watch it, again. It was a good thing, because I didn't remember it very well. I can now see why this is one of his good ones, it's quite thrilling and entertaining, and I think the whole idea of the Amish thing was pretty original, not to mention a great cast.
It all starts when Samuel (Lukas Haas), a little amish boy, and his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) decide to travel to the city of Philadelphia for a few days. Their train has been delayed, so they are forced to wait some time in the station. Nature calls Samuel, so he goes to the bathroom, where he witnesses the murder of a man, who would later turn out to be a cop. Samuel got to see quite clearly one of the two murderers, so he becomes a witness in the case, which will be in John Book's (Harrison Ford) hands. After some men try to murder Book, he takes Rachel and Samuel back to the amish comunity, and decides to stay with them for a while, since people are looking for him back in the city.
While John stays with the amish, he will need to dress like them, and act like them. The amish are very reserved and old fashioned people, they don't fight, they don't wear clothes with buttons on them, and they have no electricity or phone lines. So, John knows who the bad guys are, but they are cops, and they will use their power to find him and kill him.
It's a pretty interesting story if you ask me, seeing how John gets adapted to the Amish life, having to wake up at four in the morning to milk a cow. There is some sort of sub plot involving John and Rachel, apparently she really likes him, but they both know they can't begin a relationship, her community wouldn't accept it; Still, both lose control and at some point they break their rules.
Ford and McGillis gave great performances, I liked them both, they seemed very real, although I don't know how would an amish woman know the meaning of the word "whacking". Haas was very fine as the young amish boy, it seems like he's always had those big ears. It was also quite interesting to see Danny Glover as a bad guy, he makes a great villian, he should have made more of those roles. If you look carefuly, you'll also spot Viggo Mortensen in a couple of scenes, I believe this was his first role in a movie, he has very few or no lines. It felt like it was a bit long, maybe they showed too much of John and the amish together, but it was under two hours so it's ok. It's a cool flick, nobody should miss it.
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