After witnessing a brutal murder, young Amish boy Samuel (Lukas Haas) and his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) seek protection from police officer John Book (Harrison Ford). When Book uncovers evidence of police corruption involving narcotics lieutenant James McFee (Danny Glover), Book must take Rachel and Samuel, and flee to the Amish countryside where Rachel grew up. There, immersed in Amish culture and tradition, Book and Rachel begin a cautious romance.
Movie starts of as a thriller but its more of a love story and a look at the Amish culture and their life. The ending was quite silly with the villains not even trying to kill the kid who was a witness but just wanting to kill John Book. One of the villains does not even shoot John when he has the chance and then lays down his gun after a lecture from John.
The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Original Score. The movie won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
For those who don’t know much about the Amish they “are a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish
Harrison Ford was good and its his only Oscar nomination as Best Actor. He was better in Regarding Henry though and deserved a nomination for it. Kelly McGillis looked pretty and acted very well too. Lukas Haas, the little kid who played Samuel was cute and acted well. Danny Glover and did not like him in this one too.
The Screenplay and Peter Weir’s direction was good except for the above mentioned flaws. Witness is still a very good movie with the novelty of being set in Amish country.
Recommended
P.S. This is a slightly modified version of a comment I made in April 2013.
Tags: Harrison Ford Kelly McGillis Peter Weir
