A Witness as a thriller

 From the blog : http://bethrigby.blogspot.com.es/2011/01/section-one-thriller-genre.html

Definition of the thriller genre :
These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.  

 

Primary elements of  the Thriller as a genre	Witness as a thriller Illustration in the film
1.Central protagonist The central protagonist(s) faces death, their own or someone else's.	John Book faces his own death when he is shot in the parking lot.  Is also faces the death of this partner, carter.  Samuel  also faces death when he is in the bathroom and then when he has become an eyewitness.
2.Force/s of antagonism The force/s of antagonism must initially be clever and/or stronger than the protagonist.	At the first, the durty cop is more powerfull because there is in the higher position and sheaffer is the john boss, and then John is alone and isolated in the Amish community, where he is vulnerable.
3.Main storyline The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or the character who cannot be put down.	The john's quest consists in finding the killer and uncovering the corruption ring. He also wants to avenge carter's death.
4.Main plotline The main plot line focuses on a mystery that must be solved.	The mystery John  has to find out is to find the motive behind the murder of the police officer.
5.Narrative construction The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.	The beginning of the film is only concerned with the Amish and there laft time, but then we learn about Carter's Death through the John Point of vue and Rachel and Samuel through is eyes mostly.
6.Action and characters All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.	The Amish way of life it is very credibly depicted through the barn-rising, Rachel sponge bath. When his sister describes John it is also very realistic.
7.Major themes The two major themes that underpin the Thriller are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.	John takes justice in his own hands in order to avenge his friends and colleagues. The Amish as a whole enbody the highest degree of morality.
8.Small but significant aspect  One small but significant aspect of a great thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.	Samuel and the whole Amish community enbody innocence because their values are basically pure. The corruption and the violence inside of the police represent the corruption of the modern world.

The Amish Community

This is the link about The Amish community.

Witness : Rachel Lapp

 This is the link about a witness' character : Rachel Lapp.

The trailer of the movie Witness

                                    The trailer of the movie Witness.

I think this film is about a child who witnesses a crime scene in the toilet. 

There is a policeman who investigates the murder, and he needs the child to find the culprit.

I think I have understood that the mother and the child are menbers of the Amish community and the policeman goes with them for his investigation. He meets the family of the woman but I don't think that he is very appreciated by them, certainly because he isn't an Amish. 

During the time when the policeman lives with the witness's mother he falls in love with her, and an old man, I don't know who ( maybe the woman's father), is very angry. At the end, I think that the policeman finds the murderer because the child shows a photo of the black man who was in the toilet, and he kisses the woman.

I expect to view a kind of film which would be a mixture of romance with suspense, and with two parallel stories. But I don't think it would have a lot of action except at the beginning. The atmosphere looks quiet and it isn't the usual detective movies's atmosphere. However it can be a good movie to learn things about the Amish community, and according to me it's a very good thing, even if it isn't the authentic reality.