Film Analysis Form—Witness

Title of Film: Witness Date: 1985
Director of Film: Peter Weir
Actors: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer
Type of Film： Thriller, Romance

Summary and Analysis
Rachel lost her husband. She planned to go to her sister’s house with Samuel, her son. In the station, Samuel went to the restroom and watched a brutal murder of an undercover police officer. John book was a detective and asked Samuel questions. He wandered to know who the murderers were. John gave Samuel lists of suspects to find out the murderers, and then Samuel made sure that McFee was one of the murderers. John went to see police Chief Paul Schaeffer and advised him of Samuel's positive identification of McFee. Unfortunately, Schaeffer was one of the murderers too. John needed to take Rachel and Samuel to a safe place, but he was shot by McFee. They went to Amish town. John’s wounds were healed by Amish. He began to adapt Amish culture, at the same time he had to cope with the murderers. His partner was murdered because of him. At last, Schaeffer found John and brought McFee and Fergie to kill John. John used the familiar environment and killed the murderers one by one. Murderers plan failed, John left Amish town in the end, it is not his life either.

Relation to Case Study
In the case study from Unit 12 and in this movie, we see that shocks are experienced by the characters in both of these stories. In the film, John went to Amish town and felt a heavy culture shock. Each Amish always offers a short prayer before meals. They wear black and white suit with a hat. When someone wants to build a house, everyone in the town would go and give help. Their life seems old fashioned. It is really different from the city life. In addition, Dita, a main character in Unit 12, came to the United States to pursue their high education. She also faced culture shock because of the cold weather, different food and people. John adjusted himself quickly and had adapted the Amish life. On the other hand, Dita did not adjust herself well and did not deal with the friendship well. These are their differences.

Reaction to Film
I enjoyed this film very much. It is easy for me to understand. From film I learned customs were hard to change. For instance, Amish cannot adapt the life in the city and to John it is hard to adapt the Amish life. In our life, good habits are really important to us. Firstly, they help you study efficiently and effectively. Secondly, they will influence your life. If you inure a habit, it is hard to change. Thus, different habits can cause different lives.