Most of Peter Weir's films seem to have two things in common. A strong central character and Weir's distinctive visual style. Mel Gibson in 'Gallipoli' and 'The Year Of Living Dangerously', Robin Williams in 'Dead Poet's Society', Jeff Bridges in 'Fearless'. And so it is with 'Witness', an outstanding drama from 1985. 'Witness' stars Harrison Ford, in what I consider one of the finest performances of his career, as John Book, a Philadelphia homicide detective investigating the murder of an undercover police officer. The murder is witnessed by a young Amish boy, adeptly played by Lucas Haas. Book, aided by his witness, soon discovers the identity of the murderer but events place the lives of both Book and the young witness in jeapardy. On the run, Book returns the boy and his mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis), to the Pennsylvania Dutch country of Lancaster County where he is reluctantly offered refuge in the closed society of the Amish. Here Rachel, recently widowed, falls in love with the outsider Book, a love forbidden by the strict laws of her religion. It is this clash of opposite cultures that I find the most interesting element of this story.
Peter Weir uses visuals as much as dialog to tell a story and his stylized compostions have been beautufully photographed by John Seale. Add to this the evocative Maurice Jarre score and you have an engrossing and highly entertaining film.
The letterboxed transfer for this new Paramount laser disc release is, for the most part, excellent. Colors are accurate and deeply saturated with little or no chroma noise. The image is very sharp with exceptional detail, yet thankfully lacking some of the video articacts that often accompany so detailed an image. Since the Amish do not use electricity, light and shadow are used extensively to create the atmosphere of the rural community. In this respect, contrast and brightness are also excellent, yielding deep, velvety blacks with only an occasional trace of grain. The only complaint I have is a rather noticable video hum (otherwise called 'rolling bars') in several scenes and most apparent midway through side two. This is the only serious artifact to mar an otherwise exemplary transfer. The matted ratio is a bit less than 1.85, about 1.80:1.
The audio on this disc is quite good. The Dolby Stereo soundtrack does not contain many directional effects but the surround channel helps add good depth and spaciousness to the score and dialog is clear and well balanced. Though the soundtrack is not terribly dynamic, frequency response is excellent with clean, natural sounding mid and high frequencys as well as a solid low end.
'Witness' runs 112 minutes, though it seems much shorter (particularly side one). The disc contains 17 chapters with a well placed side break. No trailer or other extras are included. List price is $39.95. Highly recommended.
This review is copyright, and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the author.
