jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick) (04/09/85)
Mark Leeper has some acid comments on "Witness", with which I partially agree; I certainly don't agree that Weir in any way belittled the Amish. His portrayal of them was loving to the point of worship, in fact it was overdone for my unsentimental nature. What did rather disturb me, though, was the fact that the movie was set among the Amish at all. To the extent that any of them have cared to make any comments, the Amish say they're disgusted at being put in a violent, cynical movie which even shows one of their women half-naked. I saw that scene as a portrayal of innocent sexuality which was quite beautiful, but it's a pretty sure bet that the Amish take female modesty seriously, and in that context it's an additional violation of their privacy. If Weir really cared about the Amish he'd have left them alone altogether; so Mark's accusation of hypocrisy is valid just because Weir loves the Amish so much--if he'd portrayed them as being less attractive we wouldn't care so much about the hurt feelings of the real Amish. Has Weir had anything to say about these very private people's reaction to his commercial expoitation of them? You're right, Mark, the honest-cop-hunts-down-dishonest-ditto theme is well- worn by now--but at least Philadelphia gives us a change from New York.