Samuel is unfamiliar with and curious of the water fountain, as it is something that would never be found in Amish culture. This show’s the Amish ignorance towards modern ideas and contraptions. Samuel then goes on to witness a statue prominently placed in the centre of the station. He looks on in utter bemusement because statues are in contradiction to the protestant faith.
Samuel is told to be careful as he goes to the toilet, as Rachel is wary of modern American citizens and their corruption, indicating the clash. Utter silence and harsh lighting are used to create suspense and intensify the scene. While Samuel is in the cubicle, noises of the murder starting to take place arouse his suspicion and he peeps his head round the door. Fast and furious music starts, reflecting both the murder, and American culture that are both intertwined in this scene. The murder takes place in one of the bloodiest ways, by severing the jugular vein in the policeman’s neck. This is done to create effect, in both the sense of worsening the murder itself; and also to increase the sheer shock and horror of what this poor, Amish boy is witnessing. One of the murderers, Mcfee, washes his hands of the blood after the murder has taken place instead of fleeing with his compatriot. This represents the typical American attitude of keeping calm, cool and collected despite the seriousness of the situation. This contrasts to the Amish.
The victim has now been discovered and Philadelphia cops are swarming around the station.
Samuel and Rachel are looking perplexed; as this is probably the first time they have had any involvement in something as grim and severe as this encounter, due to the nature of their culture. John Book is introduced as the officer who is taking on this case. He is a stereotypical American police officer; big and strong, physically intact and good-looking – all-important due to his role in the film. He is patronising towards the Amish, another typical American approach; anything that is different or you don’t know about must be stupid. When talking to Samuel, he uses the abbreviation ‘Sam’; an extremely common American thing to do, but something that the Amish would never do. Upon being asked to describe the killer that he saw, Samuel can only describe that he was a coloured man by pointing at Book’s partner who is also black and saying ‘like him’. This is because Samuel will not have seen black men before, as there is no other race than Caucasian Germans in the Amish community.
Samuel is impressed by modern American dialect; he repeats it with enthusiasm. This is the first sign of Samuel accepting American culture, as he does throughout the film.
Samuel and Rachel are taken through the suburbs of late-night Philadelphia in the back of a police car. Typical city sounds; cars beeping, people shouting, music and bright lights are used to give a good depiction of mainstream America, and to give contrast with the lack of these things in Amish culture, seen earlier on in the film. Rachel is dismissive and angry about what she and her son are being put through. Because of her lack of encounters with anything similar to this, and her pride to be completely separate from American culture in every way possible, she cannot comprehend why they are being forced to co-operate. The contrast of this is that in Amish culture, people usually willingly co-operate and are not forced. They are taken to a nightclub; stereotypical American scene. John and his partner, Carter, use excessive force to remove a possible suspect from the nightclub and then to shove his face up against the window awaiting confirmation from Samuel. Samuel is terrified, but nevertheless shakes his head blankly. Rachel is extremely shocked by this, as any Amish would be because of their politeness and courteousness, and expresses her wish to be no further part in this investigation. Book informs her that she does not have a choice in the matter. This is something that Americans like doing; putting people in their place. Samuel asks John his name, and Rachel stubbornly replies that they need not know anything about him. Book asserts himself, telling them his name.
Book rudely barges into his sister’s house, informing and not asking, that she will have to board Samuel and Rachel. He then goes on to raid her fridge. All of these things would be conceived as unthinkably rude to the Amish. John’s sister is Rachel’s parallel in the film; they are both in the same situation (single with children) but their outtakes on life are very different. John’s sister is independent, strong, and has boyfriends over to stay while her children are upstairs sleeping. Rachel is extremely reserved (as are all Amish), and her religion restricts her from having any sort of boyfriend, or sexual relations until she re-marries. Later on, it is seen that the pillow that Samuel is using on his bed has a Garfield motif. This is a small reminder of the luxuries that the Amish are forbidden to enjoy, and that the Americans are all too used to, and take for granted.
Rachel shows previously unseen knowledge of the American justice system, showing to Book that she is perhaps not as unintelligent as he had forethought.
John chooses to buy typical American junk food from a fast food café.
This type of food would be completely unfounded in Amish culture. Just as John bites into his hot dog, he notices that Samuel and Rachel are mid-prayer. This is something that John is completely unfamiliar with, and consequently becomes embarrassed and unsure of what to do. Rachel begins heckling John over what she was told by his sister about his insecurities and what he says when he is drunk. This is amusing to Rachel as the Amish are unfamiliar with American arrogance. Samuel burps – this would be frowned upon in American culture, but is encouraged in Amish culture as it shows good health and heartiness.
The lighting is bright, harsh. People are interested in Samuel, ruffling his hair, offering him food. This is because of his separate appearance to everyone else. Americans stereotypically have a fascination with the unknown, which directly contrasts to the Amish’s attitude of dismissing what are unknown/new or having long and extensive discussions before choosing to accept them.
A dodgy-looking suspect signals for Samuel to approach him. Samuel complies, as he is naïve, lacking the common sense that all of the people around him (Americans) have assumed during their lifetime. The man goes on to rattle his handcuffs against the chair that he is sitting on, intending to intimidate and scare Samuel. After being reprimanded the man ceases, and Samuel advances to a nearby glass cabinet containing various police memorabilia. Samuel recognises the man on a newspaper cutting as the murderer at the train station toilets. He turns around to look at John and begins pointing at the picture, ignorant to the seriousness of the implication that he is making. Slow, evolving music begins. Everything begins working in slow motion. John walks over and regards the newspaper cutting. His amazed face shows that he now comprehends everything that has happened, and why it has happened. John nods, Samuel smiles – silently showing understanding and appreciation between the two of them.
Fast, thrilling music starts after John is shot. The whole theme of what is going is treachery, in its lowest and worst form. This is something that takes place every single day in American culture, but would be almost completely unfounded in Amish culture. John drives Samuel and Rachel back to Pennsylvania due to the fact that if John’s police peers find Samuel, he will almost certainly be killed.
John’s car drives on to the scene of the Amish community – it looks very much out of place among its ancient surroundings (horses and carts, old mode of dress). After dropping off Samuel and Rachel, John drives in to a birdhouse, demolishing it. Rachel, Samuel, and Eli approach his car amid much confusion. Rachel peers in through the window, to discover the wounds that John acquired from Mcfee. She is shocked to find that John still insisted on driving in this condition – American stubbornness.
The Amish take him in and care for him, representing their hospitality and kindness.
While Rachel is treating John’s wounds, he blasphemes. This is accepted due to his condition and persona, but would be otherwise completely in tolerated in the Amish community.
Schaeffa is unable to locate the certain farm at which John is staying because the only name that he can link to an address is ‘Lapp’ which is shared by an extremely large proportion of the Amish. The contrast is that the law methods used in American culture cannot be applied to Amish culture.
The ‘elders’ go to inspect John; much like the way contraptions must be inspected before being taken in.
John notices Samuel handling his gun while loaded, in his bedroom. Guns, and their purpose, are completely despised and discarded by the Amish.
John then goes on to remove the bullets and informs Samuel that it is perfectly safe to hold when unloaded. At this point, Rachel walks in and does not at first see what they are doing. John knows that he would get in trouble for letting Samuel do this, and therefore removes the gun from Samuel. Rachel sees this happening and tells Samuel to go. John receives a warning from Rachel to abide by the rules of her house when he is living in it. This is a sharp reminder of the strict ways of the Amish that contrast to John’s more lenient attitude.
Upon being asked by Eli, ‘would you kill a man?’, Samuel replies ‘I would only kill a bad man’. This is showing Samuel gradually beginning to accept the ways of Book and American culture.
John accepts Rachel’s husbands husband’s clothes. This symbolises Rachel’s fantasy for John to take the place of her husband, or to at least stake a place in the Amish community. It also represents John learning to accept the Amish, despite their extreme differences. John looks silly in them as they do not fit, do not match. This is similar to the way that American and Amish cultures do not match. Rachel retrieves John’s bullets from a flour tin with some remains of flour with them. Rachel is naïve to the fact that this could defect the gun because of the Amish’s unfamiliarity with these sorts of paraphernalia.
Whilst Book is attempting to get his car working, Eli asks if he is able to do some work, on the assumption that he should be because he is well enough to do things that he wants to do. This is a slight implication that Americans are lazy and not willing to do things for anyone but themselves.
However, John accepts.
Book is woken at 4:00am. This is something that he is not used at all, and does not appreciate. However, for the Amish this is normal and routine.
At first, Book is not successful at his job of milking the cows, but gradually improves his technique until he says ‘I got it, I got it’ to Eli. This shows John learning the ways of the Amish.
Book is now familiar with ‘grace’ and accepts it, even joining in. Book, after sipping his coffee exclaims ‘Honey, that’s great coffee’. This is intended to be a joke, as it is linked with a television commercial that John has seen.
All that follows the joke is silence and confusion, due to that the Amish do not have televisions.
Daniel Hoffmeister and Book are also parallels in the film, due to that they both have strong feelings for Rachel. However, the means of which they attempt to go about making these feelings known to Rachel are very different. John is a romantic – a conception that would not be found in Amish culture, but is the day-to-day normal way of ‘hitting’ on someone in American culture. Daniel tries to win Rachel’s affections much more reservedly. He is kind and friendly towards Samuel; he makes extremely subtle passes towards Rachel. I feel that this is very effective in putting across the clash in cultures because the love aspect of a film is usually followed very closely by it’s audience, especially in the case of a love triangle.
Upon Rachel giving John his lemonade, he downs it. She is very shocked by this as the Amish are taught to have appreciation for things, and not take them for granted. For John this is customary, as in American culture waste and greed are common things. As is taking advantage, because of the large quantities of everything and ‘bigger is better’ attitude.
When Rachel is assisting John in mending his radio, the song ‘what a wonderful world it would be’ begins playing when they manage to fix it.
The content of this song reflects John and Rachel’s situation – they both yearn for different circumstances in which they might be able to expand the boundaries of their relationship, which is restricted by the fact that Rachel is Amish. They begin to dance to the song – the Amish strictly forbid this, as do they listening to music; but Rachel chooses to overlook this so that she can join in the fantasy of them having an official relationship. The contrast is shown very heavily when Eli comes onto the scene, completely horrified at what Rachel is doing.
The barn raising is a very important event in the film, as it is very effective in showing the culture clash. Hundreds of Amish, all selflessly go to construct the barn for a newly married couple of their community. This is contradictory to the modern American way of constructing houses, which usually consists of large amounts of money being exchanged etc. (capitalistic American attitude) Pioneering music accompanies the barn raising fittingly to reflect the gradual, but slow advancement in what is being done. When John is passed some lemonade of which Daniel has already sipped from, it is clear that he has learned from his previous mistake as he also sips from it, and passes it back. This is showing John adapting to this society, just as Samuel and Rachel are adapting to his.
Whilst Rachel is in the shower, she notices that John is behind her watching. Unexpectedly, she lets her womanly desires get the better of her and disregards her faith and strict code by turning around to let John view her full naked self. This would be very normal John, and would feel obliged to engage in some sort of sexual relations with Rachel but he is surprisingly, more aware of the consequences than even she is.
These consequences that are spoken by John to Rachel in the morning are that Rachel would have to leave and give up everything that she has ever believed in or stood up for, which is a sharp and crushing reminder that their love will never be.
Whilst John is returning from the small town, him and the other Amish with him encounter some tourists. Tourism is a modern pleasure, contrasting to the Amish. The Amish are treated very rudely and are extremely patronised – showing the typical American attitude. John responds threateningly to being told where and how to stand for a photo by a stereotypical, small American fat woman. John is completely unused to being used the showpiece of attraction, and does not take kindly to it. He rudely tells the woman where he will shove the camera if he is photographed, showing the contrast of John’s modern American attitude that has been worsened at the acknowledgement of his partner’s murder, to the laid-back harmonious attitude of the Amish which allows the tourists to do what they want, just to keep the peace and not cause trouble.
A bit further on from the tourist bus are a group of yob, set on causing as much trouble for the Amish as they possibly can. This reflects American ideas of hostility towards others, and bullying. They choose to ‘bully’ the Amish because of their race, religion and also because they choose not to fight back, making it easier for them – American laziness. Racism is another concept that you would not find in Amish culture, but is often found in American culture. One of the ruffians completely humiliates Daniel by marking parts of his face with an ice cream. Daniel does nothing, but John is further enraged by this and chooses to defend the Amish. He proceeds to easily beat up the group of punks, giving one of them a mangled and bloody face. Eli tries to restrain John, saying ‘it is not our way’ but John proceeds saying ‘but it’s my way’, a huge indication of the clash in cultures as it shows their different values. For John, a modern American, it is important to stick up for yourself. However Eli, an Amish believes that violence should be avoided at all costs, despite what the punks are subjecting them to.
I believe that the film ‘witness’ shows the clash between Amish culture and modern American culture very effectively. It does this in great detail by throwing their two completely different worlds together and portraying their differences side by side. The exaggerated and harsh realities from both cultures are suggested in the film, playing great part in showing why the romance of John and Rachel could not thrive. The two cultures have huge differences in opinion, and outlook on life, and rarely cross each other for these reasons.
