Witness (1985)

I was raised in Philadelphia and spent a portion of every summer in or near Lancaster County, so watching Peter Weir’s “Witness” as a child was quite natural. I well knew the oddness of traveling from Philly’s concrete to Lancaster’s farms. That change is the heart of this thriller. Harrison Ford is John Book, a gruff Philly homicide detective suddenly in charge of an Amish boy (Lukas Haas) who witnesses a murder. The killers: Higher-ups in Book’s own department. Ambushed and wounded, Book books it for Amish Country, boy and his mom (Kelly McGillis) in tow. There, Book heals and immerses himself into the culture of a religious sect determined to ignore modern culture. Ford is great here, no sly winks as in “Indiana Jones.” Haas steals the film, all saucer–eyes full of curiosity and innocence that Book and the killers (led by Danny Glover) can’t even fathom. The climax has Philly’s violence coming hard to the country, and it is tense with one of the nastiest film deaths: Death by corn grain. Weir presents the Amish with awe and reverence, but still capable of prejudices and sin. The sexual content -- still controversial in Lancaster -- still pulsates. A