Imagine you finished year 12 last year and you have to give a lecture to the current year 12 students who are studying the text “witness” or Wilfred Owens poetry for their HSC. You have been directed to give your reflections on how your understanding and appreciation of “witness” or two of Wilfred Owens poems developed during the course of your study.You should refer to at least four different techniques that the composer used to develop or aid your understanding.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour to be here today and share with you all my reflection of the movie “Witness”. What I find interesting about this movie is that it explores concepts and issues that are very real today. If you’ve noticed, there are many themes that subvert traditional beliefs – love; in the context of hopeful romance, does not overcome everything in this movie. Furthermore, community can often act as the instigator or the breaker of unity, people are only interested in their own affairs and we even take a look at the clash between violence and pacifism. Which one solves the problem most effectively? Pacifism may spare more lives but violence tends to get things done a lot faster. Where do we draw that line between trading in inconvenient happy endings for efficient yet bloody resolutions?Despite having so many other interpretations in this film, I hope to shed some light and illuminate some of the important aspects from my ideas in order to improve your understanding of this text.

Okay, the first point that I raised was this: Love does not overcome everything in this film. Stereotypically, thanks to the media, we tend to associate our lives, views and opinions with what we see on the screen. As a result, we tend to have an expectation that ‘love conquers all’ and that it breaks through any forms of barriers, whether it be physical or emotional –which may be a concept that more females may be very comfortable with and inclined to, however Weir takes a bolder approach to breaking these clichés.This is shown through the use of contrast between the drastically different cultures of the protagonists John Book and Rachel Lapp. Despite the connotation of being “star crossed lovers”, the prospect of love between these two arrives to a very abrupt halt once culture and communal belonging intervenes. Due to Rachel’s Armish heritage, she is binded by a cultural set of expectations and rules which prohibits the pursuit of a relationship outside of their community. What then can the pulsating passion of romantic love do? To go against ones own culture with love, for love at the expense of love?Thus, the conflicting beliefs and cultural identities in this film emphasises that the concept of love and romance does not always prevail.

Symbolism is also incorporated in this film to draw barriers between both John and Rachel. If we remember back to the scene where Rachel looks at John from the window while he is fixing the dove cote behind the wired door, we see the symbolism of the dove cote representing the homage of peace. The fact that John was such a distance away from Rachel between so many physical barriers while fixing the dove house reveals to us moreso that the only way in restoring peace is by parting distance between his beloved Rachel.

This then raises the point of why the distance was necessary. Community. My second point brings leads to the concept that communities can often be the source that draws people to unity or separates people from general oneness. Cinematography has been used through the techniques of lighting in John and Rachel’s worlds. In the instance of Brook’s world – we witness an unstable and disparate environment where it has two faces. One is dark and gloomy while the other reveals that time is of crucial importance. Where individuals must look after their own interests. Where everyone has their own path and does whatever they wish to achieve their goals. This notion differs significantly for Rachel’s world with the use of natural light shined in open fields of the Amish environment as opposed to the artificial and enclosed light of the “English” world.This is a world where everyone shares a common goal and a similar sense of achievement. As well as that, there is a strong sense of conformity and heavy reliance on each other for support. Life too itself is consistent and much more stable. This form of unity has more of an influence to draw people closer together, however – once exposed to the character of John and his individuality, the community is seen as a catalyst of discord and discrimination. Where two worlds with great indifferences collide, communities that aim for wholeness compromises their very goal of acceptance and thus becomes the impetus for disunity.

Peter Weir also illustrates that no matter what culture it is, they will always tend to their own interests. This is demonstrated through the perceived values of the two worlds, in Book’s department, the police seemed to look after their own affairs by employs their methods of gathering information. That being said, as long as the Amish didn’t bother their work in any way, they were left alone. On the flip side though, the Amish were about to let John go on his way despite suffering from a bullet wound but it was not until that Rachel raised the point that if John was to die then Samuel would be in danger. It was only after the realisation that John’s life would affect the Armish community that they found significance in aiding to his care.Finally, this overlaps and brings to the topic of the juxtaposing concepts between violence and pacifism. Juxtaposition has been used here to bring a distinction between two methods of quelling a dispute. Violence, although being known to solve problems by fear – has been shown to be very efficient in rectifying problems. This is exemplified when the Amish people were being made fun of by the Tourist Rednecks. As Daniel and Eli bravely ignore the taunts and insults, they are in fact attempting to prevent the situation from elevating into something more difficult – a characteristic of effective pacifism. Though there is not much resistance, time itself is a healing factor that will eventually sort things out. In contrast, violence has been portrayed by Book who punches the hooligans that were making fun of the Amish. Despite coming to a quick resolution and by a bitter withdrawal, this only creates more problems such as alerting Schaffer of Book’s whereabouts. This reveals that despite carrying out personal retribution, consequences do resolve from impetuous actions mediated by violence. Hence, the balance between pacifism and violence has their ups and downs but in the long run, pacifism proves to benefit more in the long run.

In conclusion, the film “Witness” do raise issues that resemble reality in many ways. Though it does subvert traditional norms that are conditioned by the media, it does draw out the significance of real life experiences where conflict and indifferences have not only made deep inroads in relationships but it really challenges the cultural views and allows us all to really reevaluate the effect of communities and our associated actions regarding pacifism and violence. In particular, having a pacifist view may sometimes be more beneficial than having one of violence, or no matter how you look at things – having a sense of belonging seems to override the power and affection of having a star crossed lover.