Witness

The best examples of subversion in movies are those that are earned. Simply flexing one's creative muscle to do a rug-pull isn't subversion, it's antagonistic deceit. Subversion is taking the opposite direction of what seems predictable in such a way that, when you look back on it, it makes sense after all. Witness is a masterclass in subversion. Its premise screams for cliches and less original thought than a conversation with ChatGPT: an Amish child has to hide in his own community after witnessing a murder, and the cop helping him is hiding out from a conspiracy within the department. You can spot the cliches a mile off with your eyes closed, and yet, Witness refuses to do any of them. You'd expect the kid to be front and center, and a bond form between the main character (John Book, played by Harrison Ford) and the kid. Nope, he's a means to an end, a way to get Ford to the Amish community. He disappears for long stretches, and only one meaningful scene in the Amish community with Ford. With the plot involving the murder of a cop by other cops, you'd think it would be some long, drawn-out affair that tries to pull an obvious "twist" of a higher-up was in on it all along ... nope, they get that out of the way fast, before Ford even hides out with the Amish, and Ford figures it out just as quickly. There is no wasting of time or insulting the viewer's intelligence here. Cops vs. cops sounds like it has to end in a shootout, but Witness says to hell with all that. There's a few shots fired, but only one of them is fatal, and it isn't a hailstorm of bullets. Witness isn't a drama that turns into an action movie, and it isn't trying to glorify violence. And since there's a boy, there's a mom, which naturally means a romantic subplot, and I love how that is handled. The pairing of a streetwise cop who has never been tied down and the newly widowed Amish mom screams "this is gonna end badly", and it doesn't. It doesn't end happily ever after, but it ends the right way. They are two different people from two different worlds, and neither could ever forfeit theirs for the other. Likewise, both know their passion is borne of circumstance, and neither has to say it to know that such a thing is bound to die, so they do the right thing and end it on their own. Which leads into how respectful Witness is about Amish society and beliefs. Never once are they made to look like backwards weirdos. Their customs and traditions are honored and respected, both as a function of the movie and because Ford has to adapt to their ways while staying there. Are there any flaws to the movie? The score is atrocious, some random noodling on a synth bought at the mall. It never once fails in being the wrong soundtrack for every given scene you hear it. And while the movie is intelligent and expertly crafted, it is still a fairly basic story with fairly basic characters. I enjoyed the movie more for how it was executed and the performances than the characters or the story, so I couldn't get emotionally invested. But these should not dissuade you from seeing it if you haven't yet. It is an smart, elegant movie, and it is a diagram for how to be subversive and make it worth something.