I've always been a fan of Harrison Ford's work, although I must admit that what he has done in the last 10 years couldn't always convince me ("What Lies Beneath" and "Sabrina" were still OK, although not exactly perfect, but "Hollywood Homicide" is just an awful movie). In my opinion his last excellent movie was "The Fugitive", but he has done some very fine things before that as well as this "Witness" proves.
While traveling with his mother Rachel, a young Amish boy called Samual Lap, witnesses a murder in a washroom at the train station in Philadelphia and detective John Book is assigned to the case. Shortly after the first investigation, the boy recognizes narcotics officer McFee as the murderer. Book soon discovers that McFee was involved in the theft of an ingredient used in the making of drugs and he gives all the information he has to his boss. Shortly after, McFee comes after him and wounds him in a shootout. Book decides to flee and sees no better option but to stay within the peaceful Amish community to which the Lap family belongs. While Book and Rachel start to get feelings for each other, he helps the community as much as he can, although sometimes in his own 'modern' way, which the Amish do not approve of. But hiding for them doesn't mean that the crooked cops have forgotten about him and one day they find him...
I've already said it before and I'll say it again: Even though Harrison Ford now seems to have lost that feeling, in the past he really knew how to pick some very good scripts. The entire story is original and in a way also very daring. Who comes up with the idea to bring violence into the world of the Amish, who are seen as some kind of attraction, as some kind of freak show even? It's an incredible contradiction, just as the forbidden love between Book and Rachel is, but somehow they managed to make a very good movie out of it. It has some action, but not too much; the relationship isn't corny at all; the outcome of the movie isn't too obvious;... I must say I really appreciate that. This could easily have gone wrong in so many parts, but it didn't. This was a very strong movie.
Also very good were the performances of the different actors. Except for Harrison Ford, Danny Glover, Viggo Mortensen and perhaps Kelly McGillis, I can't say that I know any of them, which isn't a very big surprise if you know that some of them are really Amish and no professional actors. Still, they all did a great job, the professionals as well as the amateurs, and they all gave this movie that extra touch which really made it believable and powerful. I really liked this movie for several reasons without having any really negative remarks and that's why I give it a rating in between 7.5/10 and 8/10.
While traveling with his mother Rachel, a young Amish boy called Samual Lap, witnesses a murder in a washroom at the train station in Philadelphia and detective John Book is assigned to the case. Shortly after the first investigation, the boy recognizes narcotics officer McFee as the murderer. Book soon discovers that McFee was involved in the theft of an ingredient used in the making of drugs and he gives all the information he has to his boss. Shortly after, McFee comes after him and wounds him in a shootout. Book decides to flee and sees no better option but to stay within the peaceful Amish community to which the Lap family belongs. While Book and Rachel start to get feelings for each other, he helps the community as much as he can, although sometimes in his own 'modern' way, which the Amish do not approve of. But hiding for them doesn't mean that the crooked cops have forgotten about him and one day they find him...
I've already said it before and I'll say it again: Even though Harrison Ford now seems to have lost that feeling, in the past he really knew how to pick some very good scripts. The entire story is original and in a way also very daring. Who comes up with the idea to bring violence into the world of the Amish, who are seen as some kind of attraction, as some kind of freak show even? It's an incredible contradiction, just as the forbidden love between Book and Rachel is, but somehow they managed to make a very good movie out of it. It has some action, but not too much; the relationship isn't corny at all; the outcome of the movie isn't too obvious;... I must say I really appreciate that. This could easily have gone wrong in so many parts, but it didn't. This was a very strong movie.
Also very good were the performances of the different actors. Except for Harrison Ford, Danny Glover, Viggo Mortensen and perhaps Kelly McGillis, I can't say that I know any of them, which isn't a very big surprise if you know that some of them are really Amish and no professional actors. Still, they all did a great job, the professionals as well as the amateurs, and they all gave this movie that extra touch which really made it believable and powerful. I really liked this movie for several reasons without having any really negative remarks and that's why I give it a rating in between 7.5/10 and 8/10.