![]() ![]() The best things about the film are the actors who play in it. But this, I suppose, is what producers mean when they say a film has ''everything.'' Everything is sometimes too much. There's not a character, an event or a plot twist that one hasn't anticipated long before its arrival, which gives one the feeling of waiting around for people who are always late.įor a film that means to admire the Amish ways, including their communal barn-raisings and their home cooking, which is more fun to eat than to look at, ''Witness'' contains a lot of aggressive violence, particularly the throat-cutting scene in a railroad- sta tion men's room that's witnessed by Rachel's small son. One follows ''Witness'' as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. When John must face down the crooked cops who pursue him to the farm, will his Amish friends forget their pacificism? A scene in which John is taught how to milk a cow is followed by one in which John teaches the innocent Rachel how to dance. Thus the vicious, city-bred violence, which initially motivates the plot, is contrasted with the halcyon simplicity of life down on the Amish farm, and the uncomplicated affection shown John Book by Rachel and her small son is seen against the exhausted worldliness of John's other relationships. It's pretty to look at and it contains a number of good performances, but there is something exhausting about its neat balancing of opposing manners and values. It's not really awful, but it's not much fun. ''Witness'' is the sort of movie that brings out such prose. Instead, as he gazes in wonder, she turns toward him to display her fine, proud breasts without fear or shame. One night, when John Book chances upon Rachel giving herself a sponge bath, she does not hide her nudity. ![]() ![]() The beauty of the landscapes, the plain, simple, God-fearing ways of the pacifist Amish, as well as a young Amish widow named Rachel (Kelly McGillis), change the life of John Book, who quickly finds himself drawn to the strong, gentle Rachel. Its current owners, Lapp said, are being compensated for Saturday’s event.''WITNESS,'' which opens today at the Astor Plaza and other theaters, is the story of John Book (Harrison Ford), a tough, gun-toting Philadelphia narcotics detective who, to escape his own murder by fellow detectives with connections to the drug trade, must hide out with Amish farmers in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Director Peter Weir accused Hostetler of being a hypocrite who sold books about the Amish in “tourist shops.” John Hostetler, a Temple University professor, said Witness was an “intrusion into the Amish way of life,” according to a 1984 Lancaster New Era story. Locally, however, the film stirred controversy. It holds a 92 percent favorable critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Witness was one of the top-grossing films of 1985 and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. Tickets to the event, which begins at 10 a.m., cost $75, and a photo package is available for an additional $99. “Three months later, we went to Norway and did the same with them,” Lapp said. They were heading to an Amish “tourist trap,” he said, so he offered to guide them to something more authentic instead. Lapp, who also is Mennonite, said he entered the burgeoning “ experience tourism” world in 2017 after a conversation with Norwegian tourists at a Turkey Hill convenience store in Lampeter. “Something like this might happen once a year,” said Lapp, 41, founder of loKal Experiences. There will also be an auction of crafts and items from the film. On Saturday, Phil Lapp, who as a child spent days on the film set, where his father was an extra, will lead a “ Witness Experience” for 100 people, starting with a screening of the film at Zoetropolis, a theater in downtown Lancaster, followed by a quiz, and a tour and sit-down meal at the farm.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |