Witness

You don’t have to travel to the ends of the earth to encounter a culture radically different from our own—sometimes all it takes is taking a different exit than usual on a Pennsylvania highway.

This seems to be the conclusion Weir draws in his most quintessentially Hollywood film. Harrison Ford received his only Oscar nomination for his role in this masterfully constructed police thriller, whose screenplay won an Academy Award.

John Book (Ford) is a Philadelphia cop assigned to protect a young woman named Rachel (Kelly McGillis), whose young son Samuel (Lukas Haas) accidentally witnessed a crime at a Philadelphia train station. Rachel is Amish, and it is to her community that Book is sent. The police officer slowly becomes part of a community that radically rejects modern life, technology, and the pursuit of prosperity…

Weir manages to combine a thriller with an original love story and to stage the most lyrical scene of his entire career: here, John and Rachel dance shyly to the rhythm of Sam Cooke’s “(What a) Wonderful World”, illuminated only by car headlights (a discreet showcase by John Seale, the director’s second-favorite cinematographer after Russell Boyd).

Michał Oleszczyk

Peter Weir (b. 1944) – director, screenwriter, and producer, and one of the central figures of the Australian New Wave. In the 1970s, he played a crucial role in establishing Australian cinema on the international stage, creating films marked by an atmosphere of mystery, spirituality, and quiet unease. He later transitioned smoothly from auteur filmmaking to Hollywood while retaining his distinctive voice, consistently exploring outsiders, individuals in conflict with systems of power, and the metaphysical dimensions of reality. A six-time Academy Award nominee, Weir has received numerous major honours, including an Honorary Oscar (2022) and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (2024). He is a master of intelligent yet accessible cinema – one who has reached global audiences without ever sacrificing artistic depth or sensitivity.

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