Review of Witness (1985) by Ernst M — 22 Dec 2011

Witness remains a firm favorite of mine, admittedly because it's such an unusual thriller. During the first thirty minutes or so, it contained just an almost documentary-style montage of scenes at an Amish community.

But when that little boy Samuel got to become the sole witness at a shocking murder (in what I felt was a brilliantly shot scene), the thrills really heightened to effective proportions. From then on, the film's mood dramatically changed to that of an exceptionally crafted thriller, and after all those suspenseful and gritty plot twists, its climatic ending was just too irresistible for me.

But in spite of its strengths, Witness did have one major fault - it seemed to lay a rather more than necessary emphasis on the love affair between John Book and Samuel's mother Rachel. Other than that, however, everything in it - the actors, the dialogue, and Maurice Jarre's effective electronic score, among others - were compellingly thrilling, and in conclusion, I enjoyed it thoroughly, notwithstanding that one major deficiency.