moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (02/13/85)
This movie has had about 30 great TV reviews preceding it; I don't know if
my expectations were too high, or if it just didn't stand up well after THE
KILLING FIELDS, or what, but it didn't quite make the final yards. Granted,
WITNESS is a very entertaining film; granted, Peter Weir has nothing to be
ashamed of -- there are moments in this film which are pure visual poetry,
and dramatic precision. There just seems to be a certain plot (character?)
element which is a stone around the neck of this moving, dragging it slower
and slower as the picture advances.
The story deals with a young Amish boy who travels to Philly and witnesses
the murder of an undercover cop. The first half hour is devoted to the
boy's view of his Amish community, and a finer piece of romantic photography
has not been seen by this viewer in a long time. I could sit through said
half hour over and over again, and it is here that Peter Weir the Well-Known
Director makes his mark; he makes characters who we know hardly at all, and
rarely hear speak, very sympathetic to us, just through the imagery. The
grasslands of the Amish community give you a real feel for their
relationship with the land (a wonderful scene opens the movie, with a group
of Amish people apparently rising from the hypnotically swaying fields of
grain (By George, they DO sway!)). And the boy's adventures and observations
in the city are done with just the right skill and freshness... we see the
events through his eyes, and scenes which we've seen hashed endlessly in
other crime dramas seem re-energized. Harrison Ford plays America's
Favorite Hero and Nice Guy (tough cop? WHAT tough cop), and does a fine
acting job in something that doesn't tax his substantial acting skills.
So when does this thing begin to drag? Well, I'm not sure it ever becomes
non-entertaining... it just begins to snag on a romance that develops
between Ford and the boy's mother when they are all forced to flee back to
the Amish community. All I can say is that the two do not engage my
interest or belief as a couple in love (I didn't say it wasn't a logical
relationship; it's not, but that's not a pre-requisite to a good romance).
Acting? Poor writing? What? Got me, but it didn't interest me; and as the
movie dealt more and more with the romance, and less and less with the boy
and the Amish people (scenes containing either of these elements are
very good), the movie becomes soggy, and the unpredictabilities which
permeated the early part of the film disappear in the cliches and events
which anyone could see. If you can't figure out the ending (most of the
ending) by the last hour, you haven't seen many movies, methinks.
In conclusion, this is not a bad movie; it is an entertaining flawed movie,
good for $4 admission and very satisfying for $2.50. I look forward to
Weir's and Ford's next try with interest.
"Honey, this is GREAT coffee."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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