Wlos: Witness

            In the movie “Witness,” Harrison Ford’s character, John Brooks is forced to step outside of his comfort zone and directly engage the reservations that envelope doing so.  This is something that was purposefully illustrated by the actor portraying the role, Harrison Ford, “I very carefully kept my naivete about them (the Amish).  Part of the character is that the Amish culture is foreign to him” (Pfeiffer 150), he said.  Not only does he find himself as a city man in the country side, he finds himself a city man thrown amongst Amish people.  And if that circumstance weren’t already enough to detail a sense of doubt within him, it should also be noted that John Brooks came to stay with the Amish for reasons that are quite controversial—he’s hiding from men who want to kill him.  Essentially, John Brooks’ stay with the Amish was one that was provocative of ache on many sides.  This can be seen in how the character changed and how he did not change.

            One of the biggest ways we see John Brooks change is in his attitude towards women.  It is blatantly obvious from an early point in the film that John Brooks and Rachel have a thing for each other.  This love affair comes to head one night when John Brooks awkwardly sees Rachel topless.  John Brooks does not make love to Rachel that night and later says that if he had, he wouldn’t have been able to leave or she would have had to have come with him.  Thinking in a manner like this towards women as opposed to the manner suggested by his sister at the beginning of the film is evidence that John Brooks has undergone change during his time with the Amish – change that is a direct result of questioning his ways.  Questioning ways is a direct result of them being challenged.

            While the topless scene makes it apparent that John Brooks ways were challenged, a later scene displays the fact that they were not challenged enough to be changed completely.  In other words, John Brooks did not face enough doubt to change his entire persona, only parts of it.  This is evidenced by the fact that he beat people up, despite the fact that he was trying to fit in with the Amish.  In this instance he put his own interest above group conformity.  This is a significant note to make because John Brooks’ previous resistances to the Amish ways were all done in private.

            John Brooks could be previously seen resisting Amish ways when he turned on his car and listened to music in the middle of the barn and when he called the villainous cop that was searching for him and threatened his life.  These two instances occurred when  he was in a private setting so his resistance to the Amish ways could not be labeled as a resistance to group conformity.  It is thereby more interesting to note the significance of his move to obstruct his group conformity when he’s with them in public.  It shows that he was not afraid to do so. 

            The fact that John Brooks was not afraid to resist conformity in public shows that his private displays of his old self were not a fluke, he really wasn’t changed that much by his time with the Amish.  But that’s not to say that his ways were not challenged and subsequently questioned, because they were.  This is evident by the way he treated Rachel. 

Andrew Wlos