The Witness

Name: The Witness
Genre: Biography, Mystery, Crime, Documentary
Released: June 3, 2016
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 79
Cast: William Genovese

2016

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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The Witness

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Movie Details & Credits

FilmRise | Release Date: June 3, 2016 | Not Rated

Starring: William Genovese

Summary: Kitty Genovese became synonymous with apathy after news that she was stabbed to death on a New York City street while 38 witnesses did nothing. Forty years later, her brother decides to find the truth. He uncovers a lie that transformed his life, condemned a city and defined an era.

Director: James D. Solomon

Genre(s): Biography, Mystery, Crime, Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 89 min

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Critic Reviews

Joe McGovern

Jun 1, 2016

The powerful thrust of the film comes from its critique of the media. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Matt Zoller Seitz

Jun 3, 2016

This is a powerful movie, but perhaps its greatest triumph is that for a brief time it resurrects Kitty Genovese, and lets us see her as a person. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Jun 2, 2016

What The Witness makes clear, especially for people who know very little about the Kitty Genovese case, is that the scenario of 38 apathetic witnesses was a gross misrepresentation of what actually occurred. Read full review

Nick Schager

Jan 21, 2016

The Witness functions as a project of not only confrontation but resurrection, as Bill’s sleuthing sheds new light on Kitty’s personality, romances and career, and thus finally re-emphasizes her as a flesh-and-blood person rather than just a famous victim. Read full review

Andy Webster

Jun 2, 2016

A re-creation of the night, with an actress playing the screaming victim while Mr. Genovese observes, is harrowing. Read full review

The Playlist Jordan Ruimy

Jun 9, 2016

Filled with plenty of ideas and a strong sense of identity, The Witness can still be somewhat unfocused, unfolding in a multitude of directions, but failing to provide a complete portrait about Kitty and her life, which is a truly fascinating one. Read full review

The Film Stage Daniel Schindel

Jun 2, 2016

Rather than intelligently grapple with the complexities, the filmmakers let various people have their say and then call the whole thing done. Read full review

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User Reviews

LeZee

Apr 14, 2017

A brother's quest to learn the other side of the crime.

My last documentary film was a couple of Oscar nominees that I saw before the award ceremony. I'm not that into documentaries compared to the feature films I watch on the regular basis, but time to time I try if I get interested afterA brother's quest to learn the other side of the crime.

My last documentary film was a couple of Oscar nominees that I saw before the award ceremony. I'm not that into documentaries compared to the feature films I watch on the regular basis, but time to time I try if I get interested after learning what it's all about. Likewise, I found this one, though it is not a science or nature theme that I usually prefer than anything else. I have enjoyed many murder mystery films, but this one is a documentary. So I wanted to know the experience of watching the real story with real clips and interviews of real suspect, witnesses and what the victim's family says about it.

This was about one of the America's most talked crime of the previous century. It took place 50 years ago, on 13th March 1964. A young woman was murdered where nobody came to rescue her. So after all these years, the younger brother of the victim, who was a very young boy then did not remember much of the event and following incidents, is now trying to investigate and if possible to get a new perspective of that dreadful day. His journey begins in search of truth.

Like any documentary films, it started off without notifying us what's going on. But very soon the basic information revealed. Bill Genovese, who is on the wheelchair tells us what he little knows about his sister Kitty. Then the focus goes back to the day she was murdered. She was alone on the street, but there were plenty of eyes that witnessed from a nearby apartment building when a man approached Kitty and what followed was a horror. No one came forward, otherwise an innocent soul would have been saved.

"For years, I avoided the details of that night, because they were just too painful, but it's worse not knowing the truth."

After debating about the crime like the motive to commit it, the film right away turns its all focus on what's wrong with those who saw it, but failed to do anything. Bill meets some of the witnesses and gets their perspective. The stories of how they saw it and how they reacted to it. Unfortunately, many of them are passed away as it was a half a century old incident. Bill, as well as the filmmakers tried their best to get useful and fresh info, but the investigation did not go anywhere as we expect in a feature film.

The sad part of this film is there's barely any original clips, except a few personal archive footages of the victim. Because CCTV cameras were not found anywhere near the crime scene like todays world, not even 911 was existed. They say, this crime was one of the reasons to implement the 911 concept. The incident impacted the US big, to fight crime after many debates to introduce many other precautionary measures. This topic was also used for the college thesis and other researches. So basically it changed the system that America began to fight back.

It was an outrageous event, but this film lacked something. Like I said the visuals, how that night would have looked like. They should have recreated it, instead revealing everything orally. Particularly the same event described by different people who witnessed it, that was this film's notion than the crime as the title hints. So pretty much succeed in its quest, along with Bill, who led his one man research team. As a documentary film, it is a fine product, but nothing like the feature film's murder mystery. So don't go for it with such expectation other than eager to learn the truth in a realistic way. So, recommended, but only for the selected audience.

7/10… Expand

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