MovieChat Forums > Witness (1985) Discussion > Is this not one of the most beautiful fi...

Is this not one of the most beautiful films you have ever seen?


To me it has got everything! Action,thrill,suspence,and romance! What dom you think?

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I totally agree. I had been meaning to see this for the longest, finally checked it out from the library, and was blown away. Such a gooood movie. Didn't have some cheesy Hollywood ending. Reading the plot, I was kind of like okkkaaaay? But the whole movie was fantastic. Really realistic. One of my faves for sure.

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A brilliant film with a great plot and acting. But its the cinematography and the score that, for me, pushes the film to greatness. John Seale, the DoP, is genius. He turns the most boring landscape into an image of magestical beauty. Accompany those images with the breathtaking score is cinema.

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In a Weir film, it's the way it's shot and the scenery used, that tells the story. And like you said, the score is truly amazing. Rip Jarre, you moved me to tears with your music.

And also must I add, brilliant performances by Ford, McGillis, Glover, Rubes and Sommer. And I will have to say the only good performance ever given by Haas.

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Yeah, kind of timeless.

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Absolutely. It's very moving and even the scenes that don't have dialogue are powerful. The scene where she sees him outside fixing the birdhouse and she puts her prayer hat on the table. To me it was very moving, she was putting all her amish tradition aside to show him how she felt and she goes to him and they embrace eachother. The most powerful/moving scene in the movie and in movie history IMO.

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To me it has got everything! Action,thrill,suspence,and romance! What dom you think?


OMG, I LOVE this movie. I think the barn raising was my favorite part. The beauty of the landscape and the gorgeous music. I loved the way Book and Daniel helped each other instead of being pure rivals.

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That was me on the old IMDB. I deleted my account when they announced the end of the boards. In any case, I still LOVE this movie as much as I did when I first saw it as a teen. Harrison was great in this.

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Yes -- beautiful storyline, great acting, and wonderful scenery. This movie gave me an urge to drive from NYC to Lancaster.

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It is one of my favourites.

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Let me start by saying I like the film, and think it's very good, but there is something stopping it from being a truly great film and you may have hit on the head the reason why. While it has got all these elements rolled into one, it doesn't specialise in one in particular. If it was perhaps more focused on the one genre it may be an improvement. Of course that's just me and I can understand how this is something that alternately, it has going for it. I just feel that, for instance, when it comes to the chase/shoot out at the end, it comes across a little out of place and anti-climactic, after the more lighthearted drama within the Amish community we experienced for the previous hour or so.

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