Witness

We saw in Christine’s class the film Witness. It was directed by Peter Weir, whose goal seems to be to show the worst behavior from some people (urban American) in opposition to the best behavior from other people (the Amish).

Harrison Ford is John Book, a big city cop who knows too much. His only evidence: a young Amish boy, Samuel Lap, who witnessed a murder, while he was travelling with his young mother, Rachel Lap. John Book must go with them into Amish country to hiding from the killers and Book has to adjust to the new life style, and his feelings for the boy’s mother.

Weir emphasizes the way that people choose in our culture: the “bad” choose corruption, the easy way to make money, violence, and a lack of ethics, whereas the “good” have to break rules, and be violent in order to survive and maintain the state of peace. Things always seem to be twisted and out of control.

In other words, American culture, according to the director, always needs a superhero protecting the people from evil.

On the other hand, there are the Amish, a peaceful people, that know how to respect each other and their social, moral and religious rules. From the relationship between the grandfather and grandson, the film director shows how behavior is built as a cultural heritage. Everybody is a good person, everyone knows what his/her people expected from him/her. Rachel, although she had fallen in love with Book, stayed in her community. But this behavior doesn’t make her different from her people; she didn’t become a heroine.

Ivete