Analysis Of Aspects Of The Thriller Genre In Peter Weir's Witness (1985)

The Amish boy's naivety is shown when he asks his mother what the water fountain is. His mother then shows her relative naivety by allowing him to wander off in a large public place. The boy sees a man that is wearing clothes similar to him and approaches. When he realises that the man is not part of his culture he seems confused and slightly out of his depth.

In a new scene the mother allows her son to go into the men's bathroom alone. This is another example of naivety/innocence. The bathroom is very dirty which connotes the corruption in the city. The Amish boy then witnesses the murder of a man in the bathroom by two others. The shot of his eye through the crack in the door connotes claustrophobia. When the boy makes an involuntary noise, one of the murders hears it and checks the cubicles. A sense of desperation overwhelms the boy as the murderer gets nearer. The boy manages to crawl under the wall just in time. The expression on the boys face is one of fear. The next scene opens with a shot of some handcuffs on a policewoman's belt. This tells us that the law has arrived. The use of low angled shots may connote that the film is from the boys perspective.

We then go to the mother and son being taken to a suspect by the police. The streets are very dark and wet which is another common aspect of noir thrillers. Chiaroscuro is also used. The location of the subject is a packed bar. This is another use of claustrophobia and little lighting. When the they are taken to the Inspectors sisters house to make sure they stay in the city, we find out that she has a man with her. This contrast of rigid Amish beliefs about sex and marriage and an unmarried women spending the night with a man highlight the differences between the two cultures. The Inspectors sister also shows some dislike for the Amish culture through her response to the mother acknowledging their beliefs.

The boy is asked to look at a lineup through a very dirty window which is a thired example of using dirt to connote the corruption present in the city. A second example of the differences between the Amish culture and everyone else is shown when they pray before eating while Harrison Fords character just eats it. When in the police station, a closeup shot is used to establish that the murderer is actually a police officer. Another key aspect of thriller films used is the underground car park scene. The loneliness of the the cark park and the elevator show that something bad is probably going to happen. The shootout with the corrupt police officer confirms this. This scene also indicates that the corruption runs deeper in the department as Book (Harrison Ford) had only told his superior. The barren landscapes in the Amish community enhances the feeling of emptiness and desolation.