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(1985)
Director: Peter Weir
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Glossary of Film Terms
Peter Weir, Filmography
Genre and Context
History of the Amish and the Mennonites
The Text’s Ideas
Issues of Identity and Belonging: Prompts for Writing
Sample pieces of Writing
Writing Exercises
P AGE NUMBER
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2
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3
4–9
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10–23
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Character Writing Tasks
Characters
Themes and Symbols
Key Themes and Quotes
Scene Summaries and Analysis (Sample)
Scene Titles
Focus Questions
Glossary
Bibliography
25–26
27–31
31
32–33
34
35
36
36–37
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adaptation- taking literature and converting into a script/screenplay
art director- person in charge of the "look" of the film
camera- a photographic device which shoots film or records digitally
character- a person portrayed in a film
cinematographer- the person responsible for shooting a film
cutting (aka editing)- the process of putting the film together in a logical sequence
director- the person on the set who shapes and moulds the film
establishing shot- a wide shot; a wide angle
film language- those elements of a film (i.e. camera, lights, wardrobe, sound, etc.) that help viewers understand meaning
film score- the music or soundtrack written specifically for a film
flashback - a technique used to reveal action that occurred earlier
foreshadow- some action or clue revealing something to occur later
framing- use of the edges of the film frame to select and to compose what will be seen
lighting- illumination of scenes accomplished by the use of several devices
media literacy- the ability to access, analyse interpret and produce communications
mise-en-scene- all of the elements that the camera photographs
pace- how quickly or slowly a scene or a film moves; manipulated by editing or other devices
perspective- the angle at which something is viewed
point of view (POV)- a shot taken with the camera placed at an actor's eye level; showing what he/she would see
producer -one who attracts financing for a film to be produced; in charge of overall production
production- the organisational process of putting a film together; controlling the elements
screenplay/screenwriter- the written work of a film (sometimes an adaptation)/author
setting- the location of a scene or of a film, including when it occurs
sound- all of the elements of a film: music, sound effects, ambient sound etc.
soundtrack- see film score
storyboard- an artist’s rendering of how a scene might look, with specific details for camera, lighting etc.
symbolism- words or images used to convey other meaning to an audience
themes- the underlying message(s) a writer brings to a work
voice over- in post production: the process of an actor recording audio, which is edited over a scene
wardrobe (aka costumes)- the clothes worn by actors in a production
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Australian film maker, Peter Weir, has had a long and distinguished career and has directed a number of diverse and memorable films. He was born in Sydney in 1944 and went on to study art and law at the University of Sydney. He began his career working as a production assistant with Channel 7, where he also made his first two short films. Upon leaving Channel 7, he worked for what would become the
Commonwealth Film Unit (now Film Australia), where he made a number of documentaries.
Weir’s first full-length feature film was the cult classic The Cars that Ate Paris (1974).
He went on to achieve considerable success both in Australia and overseas in the
United States. Witness was his first American film, where he worked with Harrison
Ford, fresh from starring roles in Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1973)
Gallipoli (1981)
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
Witness (1985)
The Mosquito Coast (1986)
Dead Poets’ Society (1989)
Green Card (1990)
The Truman Show (1998)
Master and Commander (2003)
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Witness has elements of the crime, drama and romance genres, not to mention the western (look out for the ‘shootout scenes’) and the lawmen who no longer represent justice but rather corruption.
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The film is set in twentieth century Pennsylvania. The year is given as 1984 but there is clearly a gulf between the two worlds depicted in the film – that of the modernityshunning Amish of Lancaster County and that of a typical modern city, Baltimore, where the initial crime takes place.
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The Plain People trace their origin back to the Protestant Reformation in Europe, where there was an emphasis on returning to the purity of the New Testament church. One group of reformers rejected the popular concept of infant baptism, and became known as Anabaptists. The Anabaptists believed that only adults who had confessed their faith should be baptised, and that they should remain separate from the larger society.
In 1536, a young Catholic priest from Holland named Menno Simons joined the Anabaptist movement. His writings and leadership united many of the Anabaptist groups, who later became known as ‘Mennonites.’
One of the teachings of the Amish faith is called the ban or shunning. This is based on the New
Testament command not to associate with a church member who does not repent of his sinful conduct. The purpose of this discipline is to help the member realise the error of his ways and to encourage his repentance, after which he would be restored to church fellowship.
This excommunication was at first only applied at the communion table. However, the followers of
Jacob Amman felt the unrepentant individual should be completely shunned or avoided by all church members. This belief, along with other differences, led to Amman's split with the Mennonites in 1693.
His followers were later called Amish.
These Anabaptist groups were severely persecuted throughout Europe. Thousands were put to death as heretics by both Catholics and Protestants. To avoid this persecution many fled to the mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany. Here began the Amish tradition of farming and holding their worship services in homes rather than churches.
Many Amish and Mennonites accepted William Penn's offer of religious freedom as part of Penn's
"holy experiment" of religious tolerance. They settled in what later became known as Pennsylvania.
The first sizable group of Amish arrived in Lancaster County in the 1720s or 1730s.
Today, the Amish can be found in 23 states in the United States and in one Canadian province. Their settlement in and around Lancaster County is their second largest. Because of their large families, the total Amish population has more than doubled since 1960 to over 85,000. Very few of their children leave the church.
The Amish and Mennonite churches still share the same beliefs concerning baptism, non-resistance, and basic Bible doctrines. They differ in matters of dress, technology, language, form of worship, and interpretation of the Bible.
The Mennonites hold many of the same beliefs as the Amish, although they tend to be less conservative than their Amish neighbours. Worship services are held weekly in their meeting houses.
Most Mennonites have relaxed dress codes, and have gotten away from farm-related occupations.
While Old Order Mennonites still drive their all-black carriages, most Mennonite groups do permit the use of cars and electricity. However, some groups do require that car bodies and trim be painted black.
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The following exploration of some ideas in the film is aimed at stimulating your thinking so that you might come up with ways of exploring these and other ideas in your own writing. It is not an exhaustive list of ideas. Each idea can be linked to the context we are studying this year (Issues of Identity and Belonging), however, it is up to you to begin making these links and to explore these ideas in your own writing.
Corruption of innocence (Growing up)
A hard-nosed cop in Amish country – the Amish might be seen as innocent in that they know very little of the evil ways of the world and have a lifestyle that is based on a rejection of the material values of the modern world that surrounds them. They try to fight against the pleasure-seeking/power-seeking behaviours that human beings tend to fall prey to and aim to live a simple life of service to God and community. In this way it is a corruption of their innocence that the policeman John Book with his
‘gun of the hand’ and his tendency to fight fire with fire comes into their community exposing them to violence and temptation (consider John’s effect on Rachel.) The
Amish community might be seen as growing up as a result of their contact with Book and the violent world he brings with him. They are faced with a choice: either hold fast to their rigid beliefs by rejecting the call for assistance of a fellow human being or soften their stance on the modern world and open their community to the possibility of unwanted change by helping another human being who is in need. The fact that they choose to help suggests that they have matured as a community through the course of the film.
Samuel witnesses murder – children symbolise innocence and Samuel is even more innocent because he is Amish and completely naïve to the ways of the world.
Witnessing the murder, having to hide in the toilet lest he too be murdered, having to identify murder suspects and become involved in life and death decisions are all ways in which he is corrupted. It could be said that he is forced to grow up ahead of his time, confronting as he does the evil that is a part of human nature. The scene where
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W ITNESS he touches Book’s gun brilliantly evokes the idea that he has been corrupted and given a thirst for knowledge that is beyond him to understand. The scene that follows where he talks with Eli illustrates this: Samuel says he would kill only bad people and
Eli points out that he has no way of seeing into the hearts of people to decide who is truly bad.
When did you lose your innocence? Have you had any defining moments in your life where you feel you were forced to grow up? How do childhood experiences shape who we are? What important figures in your life have influenced you? How does your cultural heritage impact on your life? To what extent has your cultural heritage constructed you?
Cultural divides not even love can conquer
The Amish society is culturally alien to the American society with which it co-exists.
Their practices, such as the rejection of modern technology in preference for outdated less efficient technology, their refusal to engage with the ‘English’ even when provoked, their modesty and obsession with appearing ‘plain’ all make them appear strange to the average American (remember the Amish are a popular tourist attraction and are treated as if they are exhibits in an exotic zoo) and therefore open them to ridicule, attack, misunderstanding, suspicion and so on. Similarly, the Amish find
American culture alien and respond to Americans in ways that reveal their own ignorance and lack of flexibility. Note how Rachel risks being shunned (excluded from her community) for the ‘crime’ of bringing John Book into the community despite the fact that she did so to save his life. The film explores the complexities of bridging such cultural divides. Interestingly, the central love affair between John Book and Rachel never really moves beyond the smouldering sexual tension that exists between the pair. John, despite being seduced by the simplicity and realness of life among the
Amish, takes off his Amish costume once he has purged the police force of the corrupt officers and returns to the world he inhabited previously. Rachel, having been seduced by Book’s raw physicality and his intrinsic goodness, as well as the pleasures of the modern world (consider the scene where they dance to music from the car
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W ITNESS radio), remains where she belongs culturally. This is in spite of the fact that both have fallen in love with the other – Rachel even allows herself to be seen naked by Book and removes her hair bonnet in a symbolic act that signals her decision to choose
Book over her culture and family. At the end of the film Rachel and Book exchange glances that express both the pain they feel at leaving each other and their acceptance that it is the right thing to do. Notably, as Book drives away we see Daniel walking down the road ready to claim his place as Rachel’s suitor – a position he has the cultural right to assume even if Rachel does not want him. Probably, because of her culture, she will learn to accept him.
Have you ever been to forbidden to see a friend because your family doesn’t approve of him/her? Have you ever regretted not doing something or being somewhere to the extent that it has changed your life? How might an older John Book feel about his decision to leave Rachel?
The past meets the present: The Amish and the ‘English’ live in two different time zones. The Amish exist in the pre-industrial world, which means it is not exposed to/or living on the edges of all the ‘mass’ movements of the modern world, such as mass media, mass production, mass destruction and mass transportation. This could be seen as a situation where the past is accessible from the present.
Is there a period in time in which you would love to live? Does time travel appeal to you? What socio-cultural difficulties might time travel present? Would you be a different person if you were living in a different time? Would John Book have survived living the Amish way?
The Dangers of Technology: Is technology a good thing? Does modern technology make us unable to have a true experience of life? Does technology serve us or is it in control? Consider the weapons used in the film to kill or injure. Are the reactions of the Amish to John’s gun so outrageous? Consider also the shoot out scene where the
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W ITNESS woman is so worried about her car getting damaged that she risks being killed. What does this say about our values concerning the technology in our lives?
What role does technology play in your life? Does it serve you or does it actually create demands in your life that you must meet? How might Rachel have coped living in the sort of world John Book inhabits?
The shaping of identity: Weir’s film clearly explores the ways in which identity is shaped by community, notably through the Amish, but also through the police
(consider Schaeffer’s observation to Sergeant Carter “We’re like the Amish, we’re a cult too”). We see numerous examples of the Amish group identity, which serve as a reminder that these people work together for the benefit of the whole community – the children hammering nails into the new barn in unison, the neighbours heeding the alarm bell and coming together to assist the Lapps and Book. Further to identity being shaped by a community is the idea of identity being guided by one within the community – Eli tutors Samuel in the Amish faith, Schaeffer once mentored Book when he was a young cop.
Group identity: The notion of identity being defined by the group to which one belongs is central to Witness. It is portrayed through both looks and actions. Rachel schools Book in dressing Amish, including the key notion of looking ‘plain’ rather than
‘ hochmut’ or proud/arrogant. Amish identity is also shown through a number of actions, such as the Ordnung coming to look at Book, the stranger in their midst, when he is recuperating at Eli’s farm, or the obvious displeasure of the women towards Rachel at the barn raising, due to rumours about her and Book. Rachel’s actions become the subject of debate as the community considers whether to have her ‘shunned’. While Book dons the clothing of an Amish man and participates in various actions that would suggest to an outsider that he is Amish, this breaks down when his personal values of decency and justice are violated by the hoodlums in town. In this instance he rejects the identity of the Amish and resorts to ‘my way’.
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The self as an individual and as a member of a group: Rachel is the obvious means by which Weir explores this idea. As she develops feelings for John, her identity as an Amish woman is thrown into conflict. Ultimately Book must choose whether he is willing to sacrifice his city identity for that of an Amish man. Rachel is not allowed to make this choice – it is made for her and explained by Eli: “He is going back to his world, where he belongs”. The individual self and the Amish self are shown through the symbol of the bonnet, which Rachel removes at two key points in the film, and by Book reclaiming his city clothes at the end of the film in an indication that he is leaving.
The relationship between identity and gender: this idea is explicitly shown in the opening scene, as the Amish community gathers to mourn the death of Rachel’s husband, Jacob. It is clear that the men and women have specific roles, with the men performing the rites and gathering to talk, and the women mourning together and taking care of the food and meal. The other obvious example is in the barn raising scene, when the men construct the barn and the Amish women are responsible for lunch and serving the men. The meeting of Rachel and John’s sister Elaine shows an interesting clash between cultures, with the two women outwardly having little in common. However, it is possible to see that Weir is considering how both women are trapped by the conservative values of their world – in Elaine’s case, represented by
John’s criticism of her having a man in the house.
Identity and change: the film shows how individuals are changed by experience of another community – a foreign world. This experience leads them to see different possibilities and to behave in previously unexpected or unimagined ways (Schaeffer:
“Can you imagine John at a prayer meeting? Boy, I’d give anything to see that!” Book:
“How do I look? I mean do I look Amish?”) Note how Weir uses costuming to reveal changing identity – Book, who is initially amused by and sarcastic about the Amish and their quaint ways, dresses ‘plain’ because he is a practical man who understands the risk of being recognised, Rachel removes her bonnet. He of course also adopts
Amish dress because his own clothes have been stained by the blood and danger of
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W ITNESS his city life. At the point when Book begins to appreciate and enjoy the Amish world,
‘What a Wonderful World’ plays on the car radio. Following this pivotal scene, Book finds further fulfilment in carpentry, giving the impression of a man whose self is being re-charged and renewed in positive ways. At this point Book is no longer simply
‘hiding out’ but finding personal fulfilment and putting old skills to practical use. For those who don’t change or embrace the new community, Weir gives them an unfortunate fate – they are brought to justice, in the case of Schaeffer, or caught out and killed, in the case of McFee, who steps in cow manure in a clear signal that he has stepped into a foreign world that will bring him danger.
Area of Study Two: Creating and Presenting
The Outcome requires you to develop a piece of writing in response to a prompt that includes reference to the set text Witness. Some prompts related to the Context are given below to help you prepare for this part of the course. It is expected that you complete a number of pieces of writing as a means for experimenting with ideas and different modes ( imaginative, expository, persuasive) and forms of writing.
Issues of Identity and Belonging: Prompts for Writing
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Without community we are nothing.
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We belong when we can love others.
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Who we are is not a constant thing.
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We discover who we are and where we belong by taking risks.
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Sometimes the individual must act outside of the community.
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Our experiences make us who we are.
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To belong is to be happy.
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What we say we are is not always who we are.
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There is a lot to be gained from being lost and alone.
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It is only when we feel a part of something that we can know who we are.
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The interests of the individual are sometimes at odds with those of the community.
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To belong involves personal sacrifice.
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Love must sometimes be put aside in order to preserve the community.
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A loss of identity can lead to alienation.
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Challenges in life can undermine our place in the world.
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The point of life is to discover who you are and where you belong.
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We must fight tooth and nail for a sense of self and a place in the world.
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We discover who we are by taking action.
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There is no greater pain than that of psychological suffering.
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We cannot belong if we do not believe in something.
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Piece One by Phil Canon
Prompt : It is our more unusual childhood experiences that shape who we are.
Mode and Form: Imaginative/Fictional Narrative
I hate Christmas.
It’s not so much the story of the new born child and the virgin mother and the three old wise men bearing gifts. It’s the heat and the concrete and the carbon monoxide and the false bonhomie of people who elbow one another jostling for position at bargain basement bins, standing in seething queues at checkouts. It’s the unstated violence of it all.
They say there is more domestic violence around Christmas than at any other time of year.
When I was a child we often spent Christmas with our extended family at my grandfather’s place and the aunts spent hours cooking food and the uncles drank beer all day and the children played outside until it was time for lunch or to give out gifts. My cousin and I had a great collection of matchbox cars.
We used to race them down the concrete drive using a broom handle as a starting gate and we’d run a simple book using one and two cent pieces and all the cousins would lay bets. We knew each car intimately, which turned left and which turned right, which drove arrow straight and fast and we’d set them up so that the race was rigged. We always made a packet and there’d be a steady stream inside to the adults to ask for more change to wager.
One year I remember going to a Christmas party at the home of my father’s best friend.
There were coloured lights strung right round the house and a big tarpaulin that covered a lot of the yard and a small cypress that had been made into a Christmas tree. I took my car collection, but the only concrete was flat. There were lots of kids, but not my favourite cousin and I ignored my cars and moped about while the adults all got tanked and talked and laughed as loud as giants. I nagged my mum to take us home and had she read the signs, I am sure she would have dragged my father, beer in hand, out of there. Dogs and cats and children know when storms are coming, earth quakes too, and fires. You’ll find them running, tail between their legs, days before volcanoes erupt. For the adults at the party, I’m sure, it happened without warning, but I felt it coming even though I didn’t understand what was on its way.
First there was a scream of anguish that stopped everyone, turned every head and almost magically a circle formed around a couple who were locked in a strange embrace. The music kept playing and it might have been Elvis singing about his wooden heart or maybe it was something holy and brassy like Tijuana Christmas to which the couple was performing an ugly
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W ITNESS dance. The man had a fist full of the woman’s long hair and she was bent over backwards to accommodate the pull. He still held a glass of beer in his left hand. We all stood and watched, men and women and children and dogs and cats and budgerigars and it was still and I could feel a frost descending quietly upon me. Everyone was so shocked that no one made a move to save the children from something they would need a therapist for later on in life. The woman was sobbing and saying
‘you bastard, you bastard’ repeatedly and the man was holding her head back with his hand full of her hair and making sure his beer was held at arm’s length away from them both. They stayed like this for some time, until he shifted his balance and retreated slightly and she was free to swing her fist in an arc and thump him in the middle of his back - one, two, three times - and it made a heavy thud-thud-thud like a weighty spade hitting a stubborn root. The glass dropped and smashed and the beer marked the concrete and he cowered down and took it like a man until he’d had enough and stood and clouted her across the head and called her bitch and had her hair again.
This time he was angry.
The only man that moved and stood between them threw a punch that knocked the husband backwards and away, but then the woman was suddenly wild and screaming, ‘You leave him alone!
You leave him alone, you bastard!’ and throwing punches and clawing and kicking at the guy who had come to save her. I remember leaving hurriedly with my Mum and Dad and my big brother and climbing into the back seat of the car, Mum shush-shushing, ‘You lie down now and go to sleep’ and
Dad saying to Mum, ‘He should have known better than to come between a man and his wife when they’re fighting.’
That night I lay in bed and pictured what had happened, played it out again in my mind.
I was curled up in my bed the way I liked – lying on my left side facing the wall, the blankets pulled up to cover my ear. I felt safe this way. In my replay of the scene, the sound was low, distant. I didn’t go through the whole event in the way a film might. If my memory was a film, it had frozen and wasn’t going to move. The camera angles were skewed, the frame too full of impossible detail. It was all there in the same frame: the woman’s long hair pulled toward the ground, her fist thumping, thumping against the knotty muscles of his back, the man’s beer held out none of it spilling. Everything was foreground. Even I was in the frame, sitting on the concrete, as I know I hadn’t been, imagining a slope that wasn’t there, a piece of concrete long and smooth that I could race my cars down.
Phil Canon is Head of English at Parade College, Bundoora, and an experienced teacher of
VCE English and Literature
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Commentary:
I was responding to the scene in Witness where Samuel goes to the toilet at the train station and witnesses the murder. It is a corruption of his innocence to see such a thing and quite obviously would change his understanding of who he is and how he relates to the world. This fits into a broader theme of the corruption of innocence that runs throughout the film. I tried to draw parallels between my experience of seeing a domestic fight at a party and Samuel’s experience to explore how my own innocence at the time was corrupted by the violence and randomness of the event. I used the toy cars as a symbol of my own innocence like the wooden horse
Samuel is given by Daniel before he gets on the train.
I tried to address the prompt through implying that the adult voice of the writing has been scarred by the experience at the party. The first line “I hate Christmas’ is supposed to indicate a character who is bitter and cynical about people – we celebrate things like Christmas and yet can never escape from deep seated tensions and problems as evidenced by the man and woman who were fighting without any regard for the context (they were supposed to be partying and enjoying themselves among other people including children.) The fact that the child is fixated on what happened – the whole scene was “frozen” in his memory “and wasn’t going to move” – suggests that the experience has the potential to shape him in some way and ultimately does making him someone who is anti-Christmas because he feels it masks people’s anger and violence.
My aim was that there be two distinct perspectives in the piece – the child and the adult
– and that this would be clear in the language. The adult while cynical about people is able to understand the child’s world and empathise with the child’s experience. The child is mostly there as the subject of the piece and the language is certainly not tailored to evoke childhood but to reflect on aspects of it. The audience of this writing is clearly an adult literary audience – people who have lived and reflected on how their own childhoods have shaped who they are.
Piece Two by Carla di Vito
Prompt:
It’s only when we feel a part of something that we can know who we are
Mode/Form: Imaginative/Short Story
Stella was cooking paella and because she knew I liked it she asked me to stay for dinner.
I was spending more and more time at my friend’s houses when it was all happening as I had found myself doing nothing more often; a constant numbness lurked in my head that made it impossible
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W ITNESS to do anything, to feel anything, to concentrate on anything for too long. Of all my friends, Daimo was the only one i could be around. Just Daimo and his mum Stella and her good food. It’s funny but I felt like I belonged in that house, like I was a part of something that made me feel good about myself; that made me feel like I knew myself. They were the most foreign people I knew. But I mean seriously foreign. In Year One Daimo had walked into our classroom with his dark hair and skin and even darker eyes that drilled holes into the floor. He was too scared to look at anyone.
“Damiano has joined us from Spain…” the school Principal informed us. He ended up sitting next to me and becoming my best mate.
Their house sat behind several of the fattest trees I had ever seen. It was built far back on the block and as you walked through the trees and overgrown rose bushes you would catch snatches of the house. Faded weather-board, peeling green shutters and tin roof. They shared the house with Stella’s boyfriend. He owned it. She told everyone he was her husband. There were pictures of the two of them throughout the house. None of anybody else. Not even of Dam that I could see. But I had never met him. I was starting to believe that he might not exist.
In Stella's kitchen, with music screaming from the stereo, someone Spanish from back home, an acquisition from a recent trip I think she’d told me, and the tinkle of wind-chimes from outside, I watched her going through the motions in preparation of the evening meal. She drank wine. She looked up at me and gave me a quick wink before pouring a little in a glass for me. Then she turned back to the stove, lifting lids and licking her lips.
“Back in Spain all young people drink. A little, to get them used to it, so they don’t abuse this,’ lifting her glass in explanation. “Hmmm…it’s good; it’s going to be good!’
I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the wine. It was beer I drank with my mates and even with my dad a couple of times, for much the same reason I guess. He had wanted me to know so that I wouldn’t ‘abuse the drink’. Too bad he hadn’t taken his own advice. I took a sip cause I didn’t want to disappoint her. I liked Stella. She was friendly and fun and a little bit flirty. But I did steal a look in Daimo’s direction just to make sure he wasn’t watching. I didn’t know what he would think or sure that he’d been given any.
She had her head turned in the direction of the music. Her profile was a dark contrast to the white of the kitchen cabinets and tiles. The kitchen was entirely white. Her hair raven in the early evening. She was staring into nothingness occasionally sipping from her glass, her eyes bounding from the clock on the wall and her son watching T.V. in the other room. I wasn't sure what it was a sign of; her boredom or frustration or joy. She turned back to me and smiled. I wasn't saying much. In fact I'd told her very little. There was no need to fill this large and happy house with my life. I was just happy to feel a part of it. She cleared her throat and passed her fingers across her mouth.
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“Do you feel happy here David? Does it feel ok? How are you? Are you ok?”
Her voice sing-songed the question as she opened the fridge. She stumbled a little as she moved to the sink. She’d had too much wine. She looked back at me, the question hanging in the air between us. I considered answering her. Then let it fall in a heap around me.
“Do you need a hand with anything Mrs Cruces? I can chop veggies. Set the table?"
It was all I could think to say. All the other words were lodged in my throat like cement blocks.
Nothing ever came out right anyway. Her question was too big, too hard to answer. Thoughts had moved on. Daimo sat watching telly, every now and again looking over at his mum. A funny look about him.
“Dave, come ‘ere. Mum let him alone!”
“He’s ok here with me. We’re chatting. You’re ok here with me aren’t you David?
Stella was laughing and her laughter was contagious. She used her whole body when she laughed. She heaved and swelled and threw her arms around. She told me she'd stopped caring about what people thought of her. Her laugh is deep and throaty and very loud.
“How about you make the salad?”
Standing next to her near the sink, I had water running over lettuce. The water icy on my pale hands. I hadn't seen the sun in months. I focused on the onions, tomatoes and peppers I had to chop.
Suddenly, tears threatened from between my eyelashes. All I thought about was the tears sprinkling themselves over the food, tainting the flavour, salting everything up. Stella's face was crooked. She sucked in her bottom lip as the first tear tipped down my cheek.
“Always happens with onions”, was all she said.
Carla di Vito teaches VCE English at Parade College, Bundoora
Commentary:
This piece is written in response to John Book’s experience while living in the Amish community. It is a reference to feeling out of place, and outside of your community as the result of a massive discovery of corruption and the way in which he has been relating to the world. He lives with his grief in the new community and although he finds it very difficult to
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The central character in my story is obviously younger, a teenage voice, grappling with his own grief and struggling with some personal disaster/grief. It is in the sharing of this new community, spending time with others that are outside of his general circle, that he finds the comfort and desire to let things slide. He is finally able to let out his emotion and move freely with other people. In the film, John Book is unable to restrain his own anger, at the constant jeering and abuse the Amish community face. He eventually uses violence and punches the youth as his only means of defence for his carers stating, even when reminded, ‘but it’s not our way.’ Book retorts, ‘but it’s my way.’
The prompt, ‘It’s only when we feel a part of something that we can know who we are’ enabled me to suggest that in a comforting community, we are able to freely express and come to terms with ‘things’ about ourselves. The ‘complexity’ of David’s situation is paralleled with his friend’s family situation. Even though there seems to be some suggestion of tension in this family he ‘adopts’ it allows him the space to ‘feel good about himself’, like he, ‘belonged there’. This further suggests that like John Book, he needed a space to become re-acquainted with who he was and how to function within a new and disturbing version of his life.
Piece Three by Judy Eastman
Prompt: We discover who we are by taking action
Mode/Form: Imaginative/Fictional Narrative
My name is Arthur Fossum. I live in Strasbourg in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Some of you may know it as the place of the Amish. It’s certainly on the tourist maps of many people curious to see ‘the plain people’.
Anyway, last Friday I went into town as I usually do for some groceries and to pay a bill. I might not be
Amish but I’m getting on a bit and I like to do things ‘the old fashioned way’, which means paying my bills in person. I suppose I like to know who I’m dealing with.
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So there I was on Main Street just down from Harper’s store heading for my car when I noticed some sort of holdup further along the block. There were three or four horse-drawb buggies used by the Amish and a line of cars backed up around the corner near the square. I thought it was the usual delay caused when traditional meets and modern transportation, greeted around here by most folks with what I like to call ‘polite impatience’ – a bit of revving of the engine, a half-hearted call of ‘come on’ or ‘move over’, nothing too serious. The people around here are pretty tolerant of the Amish. They’ve been here for a long time, I guess. In fact they’ve been here longer than most of us modern folks, I’d say, going back as they do to the seventeenth century.
Anyway, we leave them to live their lives and they certainly keep pretty clear of us! But this morning was different. I realised that there were some young people involved; just kids playing tough, really,
Bob White’s boy, Frank, and some of his friends, as far as I could see. They’re good kids mostly but then I don’t have to be a parent to them!
What happened next though was something I thought I’d never live to see – a violent Amish. That’s right, one of them took more than a swing at Frank and his friend Kyle. I wasn’t close enough to see what started it but there must have been something. This plain guy jumped down out of one of the buggies – he was a passenger with old Eli Lapp – and went right up to Frank, like he was looking for trouble and glad he’d found it. You know how you can see violence before it happens? It was in the air for a split second and I knew I just had to stay to see what was going to happen next; there were a few of us doing the same thing because it wasn’t what we see every day. We’re used to seeing the Amish in town but I don’t think there’s ever been a violent one.
Since that day of course you’ve probably heard that the guy I saw with old Lapp was actually a policeman gone into hiding. I thought it was an innocent little incident of an Amish ‘losing it’ for all to see. How wrong I was! Still, I don’t regret going to the police – it’s true we do depend on the tourists coming to our little town to see the Amish and having what appeared to be one of them resorting to violence was a ‘bad news story’ that we could do without. That said, I can appreciate that my involvement in leading the police to Captain Book probably said a lot about me – meddling old fool, some say.
Judy Eastman teaches VCE English and Literature at Parade College, Bundoora
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Commentary:
I chose the scene ‘Lost the Meaning’ when John Book visits the local town, Strasbourg, for the second time, this time with Eli and a number of the others from the community. It is during this visit that circumstances force him to resume his former identity and ways of behaving, signalled early in the scene when he threatens a camera-toting tourist. Book’s independent spirit and instinct to stand up to violence and protect the innocent is then exemplified in his admonishment to Eli who says it is not the Amish way to confront trouble that ‘No but it’s my way!’ At this point, Book puts aside the carefully constructed Amish identity that he has assumed for a number of days, possibly weeks, to once again act according to the rules that he has lived by up until his seclusion in Rachel and Eli’s house and the Amish community in general.
This scene allows Weir to explore a number of the film’s central ideas, including most notably the cultural divide that exists between the Amish and non-Amish, shown in the extreme through the influx of tourists, who as Rachel has previously informed Book, think the Amish
‘quaint’, the merits of a technological and modern world contrasted with the plain living and dressing Amish, and representations of identity and belonging. The young ‘hoodlums’ are depicted as relying on each other for bravado, with the two young men at the centre of the fight with Book seen posturing in front of their friends in a ‘look at how tough I am’ contest. This is directly contrasted with the passive and humble Amish, such as Daniel Hockleitner and his brother, who sit calmly in their buggies, resisting the taunts and humiliation the young men throw their way. Book’s old self resurfaces in his reaction against such abuse of the innocent
Amish, who simply wish to be able to live according to their ways. This whole scene is thus an exploration of identity that is personal and instinctual (Book) and identity that is adopted in order to belong (both the Amish and the modern young men, clearly influenced and motivated by their peers).
I was going to write more of an analytical piece and make explicit reference to the film to explore the idea that ‘we discover who we are by taking action’ but ended up being drawn to the imaginative form as a way of going inside the text and examining the issues from a secondary character’s point of view.
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The piece is clearly written for an audience that is familiar with the film Witness and with the beliefs and ways of the Amish people referenced. However, it can also be examined by a wider audience considering the extent to which identity is formed not by what we say but by what we do. Detective Captain John Book is portrayed as a man of action (perhaps consistent with the image Harrison Ford had constructed through his Indiana Jones films immediately prior to making Witness !) who is not content to sit around – encapsulated in the fact that while embedded in the Amish community he makes himself useful as a carpenter and a novice milk hand.
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Piece Four by Terri Crisafi
Mode/Form: Persuasive/Opinion Piece
There is a classic adage that behind every great man is a great woman. It harks back to the biblical story when Adam loses a rib to gain a partner in crime. Many a grand woman in history and modern day has been given the accolade of having had the potential and the ability to catapult the male companion into infamy. One just needs to Google nowadays to learn and appreciate the list of females who have influenced their male companions and in turn, it makes me wonder what exactly attracted these women to such men even though poor Eve didn’t have much of a choice in Eden. What exactly attracts Eva Braun into the arms of that Nazi
Dictator, Adolf Hitler? Who exactly was Honoria and how did she fathom sleeping with Attila the
Hun? Don’t tell me that she had no idea what he was up to! The name of Kola Boof has been associated with the notorious Bin Laden and it makes my skin crawl to imagine that man even trying to be intimate. Why do these females happily associate with these types of males? Can they feel safe knowing about their work or deeds? Perhaps females are simply attracted to strong men and if they are violent and brutal to others, these females do not know or care. One could appreciate that ignorance may play a part in the lives of these historical figures, but recent local events in Melbourne seem to unsettle and usurp my observations. The trend continues and the ribs are rattling.
Kate Neilson is now a familiar name as her portrait framed the newspapers recently and the story reached into our homes via the newsreel thanks to her legendry football partner, Wayne
Carey. She suffered the indignity of being assaulted and ‘glassed’ by the man she loved. But his tell all interview had not a skerrick to regret or remorse. Wayne Carey has had a dubious past and his football prowess fades into insignificance as one recalls the stories of infidelity with his mate’s wife. Why didn’t Kate
Neilson walk away then? What magnet is there that attracts females to this type of Neanderthal?
The recent contraband Underbelly dedicates a whole episode to the women who are attracted to the males of this sordid underworld. Roberta
Williams immediately springs to mind as the femme fatale who incites her partner Carl to undercut the Morans in the drug trade and fuels the idiot into thinking deliberately about murdering the associate. Yet she lives in the home furnished by soiled money, drives the vehicles and pretends that she has every right to be looked after. Roberta seems to know when to look away and to not listen and pretend.
Happiness must have another dimension for these women.
Zara Guarde-Wilson compromises her legal career to be with the violent Lewis Caine and now has accepted being disbarred and totally alone since his death. I am at my wits end to imagine the reason why they fall for violent men.
Perhaps she, like all the other women who fall for these men know that they will always be protected. They will live the high life, and be resented by other females who observe them from afar. Perhaps they know that they are actually untouchable and they just stay in a relationship even when it gets really ugly. But they must cry the hardest too and live the loneliest of lives when their dreams fall apart.
There must be a time, a moment or catharsis when they realise that they will belong to no one.
Terri Crisafi teaches VCE English and Literature at Parade College, Bundoora
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Piece Five by Judy Eastman
Prompt: We are a part of place and place is a part of us
Mode/Form: Expository/Personal Reflection
Madrid 1, Barcelona 0
‘La próxima estación es…Sol’ . I checked the Madrid metro map at the end of the carriage for the tenth time, conscious that my backpack marked me out as a tourist but trying nevertheless to project the air of a local returning from a trip, sticking to my travel habit of relying on local maps rather than pulling out a guide book in public. I’d finally made it to the heart of a country that so far had exceeded my expectations.
Madrid versus Barcelona. It was a bit like Sydney versus Melbourne, I supposed. I’d made up my mind years ago. Sydney was alright for a holiday with its world famous harbour, hours of sunshine and beautiful people everywhere, but Melbourne had always had my heart. I wondered if it was going to be the same here in Spain.
I’d arrived in Barcelona late at night on the train from Marseilles, excited about being in Spain at last, keen to try out my basic Spanish. Barcelona was supposed to be Spain’s crown jewel, the shining harbour city, renowned for its art, its food, its bars, its fiercely independent culture. Madrid on the other hand was dismissed by some as the conservative older brother, staid and serious, a little too close to
General Franco and Spain’s fascist past.
All of this interested me but it wasn’t why I’d come to Spain. Travel wasn’t always about heading to something; sometimes it was about running away, other times, you just drifted in with the tide. I’d ended up here due to a combination of all these things – running from Australia and ‘settling down’, heading to Europe, a place from which Australia as I knew it had sprung, and drifting down to Spain via a convoluted path that began with uni friends who’d spent a year as exchange students in South
America. From what they’d told me, I decided I needed to go there myself and it was for this reason I’d begun to learn Spanish. Ten years later and I was yet to make it to that part of the world. Instead Spain beckoned.
It’s a strange thing travelling to places with which you have no history or contact, places with which it is nevertheless possible to feel an almost instant connection. Paris had been all I imagined – anyone with an ounce of romance would be happy there; I wasn’t any different.
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I hoisted my backpack to my shoulders once again and gripped my day pack tightly. The big pack could be replaced but I was all too aware of the valuables in my left hand. I couldn’t wait to find the hostel and leave some of its precious cargo in the safe. Between destinations was the most dangerous part of travel and I was in a major city, where major criminals no doubt lurked. The carriage doors swooshed open and I was sucked out onto the platform with the Saturday night crowd. A Spanish I could barely recognise surrounded me and I struggled to comprehend at least some of the announcements and signs.
‘Perdona me. Por favor!’ I muttered, once again relying on brief polite exchanges to move through the busy station.
Spying another map on the platform wall, I took the opportunity to check my location. My travel plans had gone smoothly, I was only a few short blocks it seemed from my destination, Calle Principe near the Plaza Santa Ana. I headed towards the exit and strode off, adopting another of my travel-safely techniques – a determined walk to suggest I knew where I was going. What a joke! A foreign city, little of the local language and yet I was pretending that I knew these streets as friends. I was a long way from home but comforted by the pretence that I belonged.
The sun was well up when I woke the next morning. Barcelona had been experiencing a heat wave and
I’d barely had a proper night’s sleep in over a week. Madrid was hot but lacked the coastal city’s humidity and I’d slept long and deeply. I rose, once again mentally preparing myself to venture out into a city where I lacked the language to communicate meaningfully. It was tiring but exhilarating at the same time. Anything could happen when communication problems lurked around every corner.
I opened the shutters and stepped onto the narrow balcony. The street was busy and filled with the sounds of road works. I noted the hostales across the street and down from my own, the bars and restaurants below. I wondered where I might find some breakfast. I’d do anything for a coffee and some orange juice.
‘Un café con leche y un zumo de naranja’ , I rehearsed the Spanish in my head, unsure of what food would be on the menu.
The little bar was small but with towering ceilings and an old parquet floor. Chandeliers hung high above the marble-topped tables and glittered in the mirror behind the corner bar. I walked in hesitantly, hoping I would be welcome, trusting to my quick scan that it wasn’t a tourist trap. I hadn’t come all this way to be spoken to in English, served food I could have at home. The Café Principe didn’t disappoint.
The barman was polite, efficient, the coffee and juice welcome and delicious. Croissants were a familiar sight from Paris and I wolfed a couple down, suddenly realising that I’d crashed out the night before without a proper evening meal.
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Here I was in Madrid, another city where I knew no-one. I thought about the phone number of the brother of a Melbourne friend, tucked into my wallet, as I sat self-consciously, using all my senses to tune in to the world around me, hoping for I didn’t know what, an experience to remember, probably.
Although I’ve been back a couple of times since, my first visit to Madrid remains memorable for the almost instant connection I felt to the city. Standing on the Paseo del Prado, one of the main thoroughfares, only a couple of days after arriving from Barcelona, one thought flashed into my mind:
‘This is a city!’
Writing: 1,022 words
Judy Eastman teaches VCE English and Literature at Parade College, Bundoora
Commentary:
This is a personal reflection about my first visit to Spain in 1999. Although now over ten years ago, the events and feelings upon first arriving in Madrid have remained fresh and strong in my memory due to the strong impression the city had on me. I have since been back there for two extended stays and my connection to Madrid has strengthened rather than what sometimes happens – feelings of disappointment and disillusion due to the shine/excitement of the ‘first time’ being lost. I wanted to capture some of the excitement but also the nervousness I felt upon arriving in a large foreign city. I particularly wanted to reflect on the fact that despite not knowing anyone in Madrid and having only a limited grasp of the language, the connection I felt was immediately strong and gave me confidence as well as excitement and optimism. This experience was a clear demonstration of how your identity is changed by places and that deep, even inexplicable, connections can be made despite those places being ‘foreign’. While the piece attempts to explore the prompt ‘We are a part of place and place is a part of us’, it is also about how our identity is strengthened and expanded by connecting to new places, and how our identity is not fixed but grows and alters throughout our lives. In this sense, I wanted to show how travel is not necessarily about famous places and sights but the influence it can have on identity and individual growth – if only one is open to this possibility.
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The piece connects to Witness in that I was a stranger in a foreign world, and while Madrid is still part of the western world, unlike the Amish community in Weir’s film, the language and social norms are very different to Australia. This ‘being foreign’ was further reinforced for me by the fact that I didn’t know anybody there and was, like Book when he first arrives in the
Amish community, dependent on the kindness of strangers to answer my questions and show me the way. Over time, I was able to better understand the city of Madrid and its people
(including its custom of eating dinner after 10.30 p.m. and the traffic jams at 2 a.m. on a
Sunday morning) but this piece really focuses on the first hours, a time of disorientation but also of adventure, much as the Lapps’ farm is for Book when he first explores it with Samuel as his guide.
I’ve used a variety of language features to refer to various details in order to allow the reader to visualise the place. For example, I have included some Spanish phrases, such as the common politeness ‘Excuse me, please’, rendered here as ‘ perdona me, por favor
’, as well as descriptions of places and everyday food items. By doing this, I hoped to evoke the atmosphere of Madrid and an impression of the traveller who is a foreigner but tries to fit in and thereby avoid the notice of unknown elements who might wish to exploit them. Certain cities in Spain have a reputation for crime against travellers – especially theft – and I also wanted to show my efforts to minimise the risk to myself, tactics that were learned on previous overseas trips, as a further example of how one’s identity is altered by travel, in this case, due to possible threats to the person.
Commentary: 568 words
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Your writer’s voice will reveal much about who and what you are. However, it is not always easy to translate your spoken voice into your ‘written’ voice. Think about your tone, your point of view and the tense you are writing in.
Some tips
Tone: Tone is the aspect of voice that shows your attitude to the experiences you are writing about.
Point of view: This is the perspective, where you are looking from as you write.
(use first person…very effective and brings the reader right into the story with you).
Tense: Is the story happening in the present, the past or the future?
1.
Child
Write about a childhood experience from the point of view of the child. Write in the present tense and with the feelings and thoughts of the child.
2.
Teenager
Write about a conflict from your teenage years (that would be now!!) from the perspective of being the teenager. It can be a conflict with a parent, friend, teacher, boss etc. Write it in the present tense with the attitudes and voice of the teenager. (a hint: read this out and see if it does sound like a teenager speaking.)
3.
Talking to a friend
Imagine you are talking to a trusted friend, someone to whom you can say what you really think. You are telling them about something ‘big’ in your life. Anything! A trip, a dream, a desire…Write about the experience, keeping the friend in mind. Try and write in the voice that is characteristically yours so that people who know you would be able to read it and say ‘that sounds like you.’
4.
Another view
Take an incident from any time of your life and write about it in the first person but from the point of view of someone else who was there at the time. In effect you will be writing about yourself from someone else’s point of view. So, try writing it as your mother or your father, a brother a teacher or your girlfriend. Maybe your enemy??
(Exercises taken from ‘Writing Your Life’ Patti Miller, 2001)
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Prompt
‘Sometimes it is hard to balance belonging to a group with keeping one’s individual identity’
The prompt is to be used for a piece of writing which will allow you to explore the idea. You must draw on ideas and issues suggested by the text Witness.
In order to write well in context you need to identify with the characters and show some insightful understanding of their behaviour.
Rachel Lapp, Amish woman and mother of Samuel
Write a diary entry as Rachel, which begins as you are about to settle in at Elaine’s apartment. Reflect upon the situation, including your concern for your son’s wellbeing and his state of mind. Why are you resentful of John Book and his world?
Continue your diary entries from your return to the Amish community, reflecting on the care you take of this stranger who is injured and now in your home. Explain the reason for seeking your father-in-law’s support, especially since the rest of the community disapproves of John Book’s infiltration of this private world. When do you fall in love with John Book? Do you realise that Daniel Höckleitner is jealous of this man? When do you realise that you are also in conflict with your Amish world? Why can’t you leave?
Recall the prompt as you write – ‘Sometimes it is hard to balance belonging to a group with keeping one’s individual identity’
Samuel Lapp, Amish Boy, witness to murder
You are to write a journal explaining your feelings from the moment you witness the murder. Your naivety and innocence must resound in the piece. Explain the feelings you have as you identify the killer as Detective James McFee and realise that John
Book smells corruption and a cover up. Do you understand this at first? How do you feel about this Detective, John Book? Record the changing attitude you have toward
Book. Are you suspicious? Are you afraid? Are you jealous? Are you aware that there is resentment in the Amish Community about your protector? Are you aware that your mother’s reputation is being tarnished? Who do you confide in? Why? What makes you protect John Book at the end? Do you hope he will stay with your mother rather than Daniel Höckleitner stepping in? Do you see him as a father figure?
Recall the prompt as you write – ‘Sometimes it is hard to balance belonging to a group with keeping one’s individual identity’
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John Book, Detective Captain, Philadelphia Police
Write a journal entry as the character of John Book, reflecting on the idea that you belong to the police force but are quickly learning that there may be some corruption, and that your former partner and mentor, Paul Schaeffer, is at the centre of it.
You feel compelled to protect Samuel and Rachel so you involve your sister in the situation by taking them to her apartment for protection. Reflect on what you may be thinking at this time.
You are often awkward and uncomfortable around Rachel and Samuel in the early scenes. What is going on in your mind?
You gradually change your attitude toward the Amish. What brings about your respect for these people and their ways? Detail the nature of this respect.
How do you feel about belonging to the Philadelphia Police Force? Why don’t you just stay with Rachel and Samuel and live among the Amish?
Recall the prompt as your write – ‘Sometimes it is hard to balance belonging to a group with keeping one’s individual identity’
Further Writing in Context
Your task now is to write the original reflection of the character of your choice from a different viewpoint.
In the first three tasks you were writing in the first person:
‘I didn’t realise that I was involving myself in an investigation into the corruption of the Philadelphia Police Force’.
When you alter the point of view from first person to third person, it becomes a narration and an observation of others. Perhaps this could now read ‘John Book was simply doing his job protecting a witness. What he didn’t realise was that he was now about to unveil police corruption within his unit.’
Write a newspaper report on this case with special focus on the character of your choice. This submission will be to your Editor who may run a Feature in the Sunday tabloid.
Give the article a Headline –
a mere example! Make up your own!
Provide the By-line, that is, your name. Add an image to enhance your submission.
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Use the following list of adjectives to assign as many as possible to each of the film’s main characters on the following pages. Include evidence to support each choice. selfish loyal loving traditional wise silent caring trustworthy victim lonely generous powerful jealous quiet reticent introverted reserved taciturn loud boisterous extroverted belligerent bombastic true genuine dependable false manipulative deceptive duplicitous conniving committed steadfast disloyal traitorous treasonous faithless seditious charismatic intelligent honest insecure honourable dedicated cowardly moral resigned determined understanding solemn mentor sad negative depressed despondent melancholic greedy avaricious self-seeking self-indulgent acquisitive magnanimous selfless benevolent altruistic smart perceptive ingenious canny silly unwise unintelligent naïve ill-advised happy reliable compassionate damaged proud aloof evil attractive complex trusting patient cruel brave devoted nasty circumspect cautious guarded prudent courageous fearless intrepid heroic fearful diffident timorous irresolute thoughtful contemplative reflective meditative introspective practical pragmatic expedient realistic hard-headed racist bigoted prejudiced admirable bad domineering unyielding gullible good noble kind sympathetic helpful subservient passive submissive faithful immoral corrupt malevolent vindictive nasty malicious heinous weak discriminatory strong resilient virtuous impulsive impetuous spontaneous careful positive joyous buoyant ecstatic curious xenophobic rash reckless
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Personal Quality
Physical Details
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Example
Beliefs and Values
Personal Quality
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Personal Quality
Physical Details
Example
Beliefs and Values
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Example
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Physical Details
Personal Quality
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Beliefs and Values
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Example
Beliefs and Values
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Physical Details
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Beliefs and Values
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Example
Beliefs and Values
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Theme/Symbol Text Reference guns drinking fountain horse-drawn vehicle the granary
Rachel’s bonnet
‘What a wonderful world this could be…’
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culture and beliefs
‘This gun of the hand is for the taking of human life. We believe it is wrong to take the life. That is only for God.’ Eli
‘They’re Mennonites. They have cars and refrigerators…’
‘I insist that you respect our ways.’ Rachel
‘This is a man’s life. We hold it in our hands.’ Eli
Rachel
‘You don't understand. We want nothing to do with your laws.’
‘I would only kill the bad man.’ Samuel
‘I told him we didn’t need to know anything about you.’ Rachel
Rachel
‘Oh yeah. I'm learning a lot about manure. Very interesting.’
‘But it’s my way!’ John
‘Lapp, I will have to speak with the elders on this matter.’
John
Amish Doctor identity and belonging
‘We’re like the Amish. We’re a cult too. A club with our own rules.’
‘Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord. And touch not the unclean thing.’ Eli
‘Is the English dead?’ Eli
‘Your sister says you don't have a family.’
Rachel
John
Rachel
Eli
John
John
Eli
Schaeffer
‘Mm uh huh, yes…she thinks you like policing because you think you are right about everything and you're the only one who can do anything, and when you drink a lot of beer you say things like
'none of the other police know a crook from a bag of elbows!'. At least I think that's what she said.’
‘He’s going back to his world, where he belongs. He knows it.’
‘You be careful out among them English.’
‘Oh, so he wasn't a runt. He was a big guy, like me?’
‘How do I look - I mean, do I look Amish?’
‘I thought I was the English.’
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‘What you take into your hands you take into your heart.’
Rachel
John
Samuel
Eli
‘Only the bad man. I see. And you know these bad men by sight? You are able to look into their hearts and see this badness?’ Eli
‘And having seen you become one of them. Don’t you understand?’
‘I just don't like the idea of my son spending all this time with a man who carries a gun and goes around whacking people!’
‘I can see what they do. I have seen it.’
‘Yeah, now I got a witness.’
Eli modernity versus tradition
‘You bring this man to our house with his gun of the hand. You bring fear to this house. Fear of
English with guns coming after.’
‘Buttons are proud and vain, not plain.’
‘Are you making fun of me? Like the tourists…staring all the time…They seem to think we’re quaint.’ Rachel
Eli
Rachel
‘What’s he going back to? Nothing! Why?’ Rachel technology
‘Mama, look! What’s that thing?’
‘Lady, you take my picture with that thing and I'm gonna rip your brassiere off... and strangle you with it! You got that?’ John
Samuel
‘Are you trying to tell me that there’s no way we can locate this woman? We’re talking about twentieth century law enforcement, Sergeant.’ Schaeffer relationships
‘Hurry up, John Book!’
‘If you shame me…’ Eli
Eli and Samuel
‘Rachel, who was that man?’
‘Goodbye John Book.’
Eli
Samuel
‘She thinks that you ought to get married and have children of your own, instead of trying to be a father to hers. Except she thinks you’re afraid of the responsibility.’ Rachel
‘If we'd made love last night I'd have to stay. Or you'd have to leave.’ John
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Complete a summary and analysis for each of the remaining 15 scenes. Use the following summary of Scene 1 as a guide.
Scene 1: Funeral Rites
How is the scene introduced? Eg. a sea of waving crops, green, a good crop; gradually a line of figures clad in dark clothing, as for a funeral, the men wearing hats, the women wearing bonnets, cross the screen from right to left.
Key film techniques? Costuming – juxtaposition of the green field (life, health) with the sombre clothing (death and loss); music
Key images? Eg. the funeral group rising up out of the field, walking towards the camera in a line; the line of horse-drawn hearses filmed from a low-angle, limiting our view of the setting; the text ‘Pennsylvania 1984’ that appears over the image, gives a visual shock – we are not viewing a film set in the past but in
‘the modern world’; wind blowing across green crops, like waves at sea.
Key quotes: Eg. “You be careful out there amongst the English”.
What happens?
Funeral service for Jacob, husband of as-yet unidentified Rachel, a young Amish woman. She and her father are pictured grief-stricken. There are not enough seats for all of the mourners, who crowd the room and stand in the doorways.
The community gathers in a private home for a funeral meal. The men and women are seen in separate groups, the men commenting that “Jacob was a good farmer”, while the women gather around Rachel, offering comfort in her grief. Children move in and out apparently unmoved by grief or the seriousness of the occasion; women are busy preparing food in the kitchen. The men share a ribald joke about Jacob’s ‘skill’ in choosing a horse. The camera singles out a young blonde Amish man, who is the only man shown to approach Rachel, signalling his possible interest in her.
Who features in this scene?
Which theme/s are the focus of this scene? community, identity, relationships, love, family
What ideas are suggested in this scene? Eg. Amish as a closed community; countryside; lack of technology/modernity; Pennsylvania 1984 – no visible signs of modern life; death and loss; community; prayer, faith, religion; gender roles, separation of men and women; common identity rather than individualisation.
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W ITNESS
Scene 2: The Journey
Scene 3: Material Witness
Scene 4: John Book
Scene 5: Positive I.D.
Scene 6: Watch Your Back
Scene 7: Gun of the Hand
Scene 8: Plain John
Scene 9: Honest Work
Scene 10: Breaking the Rules
Scene 11: Barn Raising
Scene 12: The Storm
Scene 13: Lost the Meaning
Scene 14: Twilight
Scene 15 : It’s Over
Scene 16: Be Careful Among the English
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W ITNESS
F
Q
1.
What is the purpose of the gathering of the Amish in the opening scene and what view of community is presented here?
2.
How is it that Samuel becomes a ‘witness’ to murder? Include an explanation of why he is at the train station in Baltimore.
3.
What are some of the things that Samuel is fascinated by on his journey into the world of ‘the English’? Why do these things appeal to him?
4.
What does Samuel lose in witnessing the murder and how is this shown?
5.
How is John Book characterised in Scene 4, John Book? What kind of man is he?
6.
What moral lesson does Eli Lapp endeavour to teach Samuel about guns?
7.
How successful is John Book at becoming an Amish man? What are the most significant difficulties for him as he endeavours to ‘hide out’?
8.
Describe the kind of community depicted in Scene 11: Barn Raising.
9.
What is at stake for both Rachel and John as they shelter from the storm and dance to the car radio?
10.
In what ways has the Amish community been placed under threat by Book’s presence amongst them?
Research the following items and include your own definition for each term.
Amish belonging community
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corruption culture identity
Mennonite modernity
Ordnung shunning tradition witness worship
W ITNESS
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W ITNESS
Witness (1985) Paramount Pictures
‘Amish Frequently Asked Questions’, Ask the Amish FAQ Page [online], viewed 6
January 2009 < www.800padutch.com/atafaq.shtml
>.
‘Amish’, Wikipedia [online], viewed 6 January 2009,
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish >.
Internet Movie Database, Witness [online], viewed 6 January 2009,
< www.imdb.com/title/tt0090329 >.
‘Quakers FAQ’, Quakers in South Australia [online], viewed 6 January 2009
< http://sa.quakers.org.au/faq/ >.
‘Witness HSC Study Guide’ [online], viewed 6 January 2009,
< http://hsc.csu.edu.au/english/standard/close_study/witness/EngStandard123
6witness.htm
>.
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