Peter Weir's Witness
In the 1985 film witness director Peter Weir explores the sharp cultural conflicts between the old Amish society of western Pennsylvania and the modern American world of crime and violence. The main character, Philadelphia police detective John Book
(played by Harrison Ford), is forced into hiding by a group of corrupt fellow officers looking for a little Amish boy (played by Lukas Haas). The boy witnesses a brutal killing and identifies the policeman who did it from a photograph on the wall at headquarters.
John Book and his witness hide in the house of the boys's mother Rachel (played by
Kelly McGillis) on a farm in the Amish country. The detective and the Amish widow gradually enter into a frustrated love affair, over objections of her father and neighboring youth (Alexander Godunuv) who sees Rachel as a potential wife.
The Characters of witness are strong drawn images of people from two different worlds. Book is very blunt and aggressive, but he is honest and decent enough to earn the respect of the Amish people. Rachel is very simple and sweet, But also very intelligent and independent enough to fight for her freedom to love an outsider. Her son Samuel is quiet and observant, but he plays a key role in going to the rescue after the three corrupt cops come to the farm to kill Book and the boy and eliminate the only witness to their crime. But it is really John Book who is the hero of the story. He escapes and then battles his would-be killers in an unlikely manner, and only leaves Rachel and her family after they are safe and secure from all harm.
The cultural contrasts portrayed in witness are perhaps the most obvious element of the story. Book and his world are full of violence, guns corruption, but the Amish world of Rachel and her family is quiet, gentle and deeply religious. Her son Samuel is fascinated with this strong, friendly policeman from the big city, but Rachel and her father are alarmed at the idea of having a gun in their house. This violates everything that their pacificism represents. John Book is forceful and strong enough to overcome their objections, and he shows that not only he is a good cop but is also a good man in the
Amish sense. Now the director just doesn't tell you that he is a good man in the Amish sense, but actually takes on some of the Ami...
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...nt and cruel but it is more open to change, and his job moves him between cultures. On the symbolic level, Witness examines that meaning of dress, food, work, love relationships and shows how they operate very differently in two cultures.
Ultimately, Book's crude disguise as an Amish farmer cannot work and he is forced to leave this dream world., but while he is there he adopts the dress, tools and in some ways the ideals of the Amish. He is honest enough to realize that he cannot take Rachel from that world, and finally gives way to a more suitable marriage partner for her, the Amish boy played by Godunov.
Witness is a love story and a morality play seen threw the eyes of three different people. A little boy witness, a policeman, and a beautiful widow. After seeing this movie for the first time I was moved by its well thought out plot, character shifts, editing, motif, and shot selection. Being told the story by 3 different people gave you an overall sense of being informed on every account and not missing a thing. Witness combines all these things without being to flashy or over bearing, I can plainly see why it is on the top 100 films of all time.
John was a rather mischevious teen. At the age of 13 John tried to run away to join the circus. Dad was not all that impressed
Some of the main points discussed in the article that captive the readers interest were that Streir highlighted various stories of instances where 4,5, and 6 years old children among others under the age f 15 using a gun within the home,
better mood and plot details which made it much more dramatic and by far a
One way the youth are getting their hands on guns so easily are guns in the residence. Not saying guns shouldn’t be in homes, they’re still a way of protecting one’s self and others. Parents just need to do a way better job of concealing their firearms. A significant number of adults with...
This is most likely due to the fact that she grew up in a poor household but still managed to make a name for herself through her life experiences. They gave her the knowledge to be able to formulate opinions about the relationships among people, particularly between men and women. She is a strong proponent of the belief that God placed humans on earth with the intention to live in a community equally with others. If both men and women were given the same opportunity to prove themselves then who is to say that they cannot be equal to one another? In her eyes, the soul is genderless and should be given an equal chance to be proven so before women are objectified as the weak and fragile. Women have to depend on men because they do not get the same education and knowledge to be able to support
... the bushes. After the man stopped shooting, Wallace ran towards a cornfield as fast as he could. He ran past people working in the field and men that were chasing him. He also ran and jumped over a ditch that the dogs chasing him fell into. Wallace made it back to Pickensville, about a 23 mile trek, and asked his friend at the church if he could stay for awhile and have something to eat. The man let him stay and gave him food along with water. Wallace stayed up in the church steeple for a few days, watching the roads through the window. He saw his Master pass by everyday going to the store, but made sure he was hidden from sight. One evening, Wallace decided to go outside for some fresh air, while wearing bright white straw hat. A man passing by had seen Wallace, and asked who was there. Wallace laid down in the corn and tried to hide, but the straw hat betrayed him
because she was the first of her sisters to join the rebellion, she went to law school, and
The setting takes place present day in Harlem, New York. The main character is a sixteen-year-old boy named Steve Harmon. Steve Harmon is on trial for a murder that he believes he did not commit. While he is in jail he is writing a script for a movie about the trial. The script helps Steve stay calm and not go crazy while he is in jail. Steve and his Defense Attorney, Kathy O’Brien, are trying to prove to the jury that Steve is innocent. Steve is thought to have been working with two other men, James King and Richard “Bobo” Evans. These two people robbed the store and then Steve apparently killed the owner of the store after Bobo and
The book A Painted House by John Grisham creates a strong sense of place. The book starts by the narrator, a little boy named Luke, saying that his grandfather, known as Pappy, are searching for workers to help them with the cotton picking. They hire the Spruills who are known as hill people and a few Mexican workers who come to the area looking for work. Besides working long hours under the hot sun in the fields picking cotton, Luke's life is wonderful until he sees Hank Spruill attack three boys from the Sisco family on the Main Street in the Co-op, one of them is beaten so badly he dies from his wounds. Hank tells Sheriff Stick Powers that Luke was a witness who can support his version of the event, and the frightened boy backs up his story,
In New York, a 3 year old found father’s gun under the couch and begin playing with it and accidently shot himself in the eye, killing himself instantly. In Georgia, 11 year old sister killed at the hand of her brother. The brother thought that he had removed the bullets from the gun, pulled the trigger and pools of blood poured from his sister’s mouth as she died. (Luo) All of these deaths were avoidable if the firearms were first locked up, and second if they were not readily accessible to children. In the state of Alabama the Alabama Attorney General has petitioned the Supreme Court to remove the San Francisco ordinance rule stating
was raised by an upper-class family who resented her and did not want her, therefore
The first thing that parents should be worried about would be the exposure of guns that their children have. Several families have guns at home because they feel they are secure having them for protection. People buy guns because they believe that where they live,
story is a young boy. The motive to kill is that he sees the boy’s
Fortune Teller, he is able to capture the realism of the characters and their encounter to leave a natural
In the end we find out that John had not raped and killed the two little girls he was found with, but instead he had happened upon them and tried to bring them back to life; only it was too late. Seeing the fantastical nature of the situation the guards who knew the truth were unable to free John of the charges he was facing and they had to kill him anyways.