One follows ''Witness'' as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. When John must face down the crooked cops who pursue him to the farm, will his Amish friends forget their pacificism? A scene in which John is taught how to milk a cow is followed by one in which John teaches the innocent Rachel how to dance. Thus the vicious, city-bred violence, which initially motivates the plot, is contrasted with the halcyon simplicity of life down on the Amish farm, and the uncomplicated affection shown John Book by Rachel and her small son is seen against the exhausted worldliness of John's other relationships. It's pretty to look at and it contains a number of good performances, but there is something exhausting about its neat balancing of opposing manners and values. It's not really awful, but it's not much fun. ''Witness'' is the sort of movie that brings out such prose. Instead, as he gazes in wonder, she turns toward him to display her fine, proud breasts without fear or shame. One night, when John Book chances upon Rachel giving herself a sponge bath, she does not hide her nudity. The beauty of the landscapes, the plain, simple, God-fearing ways of the pacifist Amish, as well as a young Amish widow named Rachel (Kelly McGillis), change the life of John Book, who quickly finds himself drawn to the strong, gentle Rachel. ''WITNESS,'' which opens today at the Astor Plaza and other theaters, is the story of John Book (Harrison Ford), a tough, gun-toting Philadelphia narcotics detective who, to escape his own murder by fellow detectives with connections to the drug trade, must hide out with Amish farmers in Pennsylvania Dutch country.
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