The murder of Kitty Genovese has captivated sociologists, historians and journalists for 50 years; strangely, "The Witness" marks my first ever exposure to this bewildering case and may very well be for a number of viewers. The notion that 38 witnesses saw the crime or heard Kitty's screams outside the Mowbray residence building in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens, New York and did nothing is astounding, yet as "The Witness" discovers, the legend appears to have overshadowed the truth.
"The Witness" follows Bill Genovese, Kitty's younger brother, on what amounted to an 11-year quest (on film) for answers. The documentary reveals Bill to be a restless truth-seeker consumed by what happened to his sister. Her death shattered his family and dramatically affected the course of his life's direction, while America held it up as the textbook example of public apathy and selfishness.
Bill begins his investigation with the objective of finding out if 38 people really witnessed his sister's murder. He tries to track down any and all living witnesses to piece together an account of the night's events, which leads him everywhere from police reports, to the trial transcript to newspaper accounts. Bill also explores who his sister was and also who her killer was.
The film takes on a murder mystery tone at first with voice-over narration from Bill guiding the story more so than director James D. Solomon. Where he goes, the story seems to go. In some ways it does have a corny private investigator TV special vibe to it, but Kitty's case is a fascinating one. Bill's willingness to explore anything and everything about her murder, however, causes the film to lose focus. The objective becomes about obsessively scouring for any kernel of truth.
Then suddenly it becomes clear. "The Witness" is not a documentary about Kitty's case; it's a documentary about Bill's investigation of Kitty's case. Bill is the subject. Viewers learning of it for the first time will likely get swept up in the details as Bill has for 50 years, but it's Bill's dogged search for truth and obsession with this story that ultimately takes center stage and elevates what would otherwise be a compelling but standard-order documentary.
"The Witness" reveals something about the need for truth and more importantly, the need for narratives to fill in what truth is missing. The more people Bill meets, the more stories and accounts that he hears, and the more questions that arise. The percentage of truthful information about Kitty's murder grows ever smaller in a pool of inconsistent information.
Whereas everyone from the journalists who covered the story to the witnesses to the American public to the Genovese family filled in the gaps in truth with a story that gives it all meaning and allows them to move on, Bill cannot. That's what Solomon's documentary is really exploring and revealing in following this infamous case. A reenactment scene at the end of the film is particularly painful and off-putting from a viewer's perspective, but seen in the context of Bill being the subject, it makes a powerful amount of sense.
The dual nature of "The Witness" will not click with every viewer. Those hoping for a Kitty Genovese documentary will probably find it unsatisfying after a point, while those unable to zoom out and see the ways the film is about Bill will surely find it strange as well. Yet there's something powerfully meta about the film that will stimulate those who enjoy documentaries for the storytelling.
~Steven C
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"The Witness" follows Bill Genovese, Kitty's younger brother, on what amounted to an 11-year quest (on film) for answers. The documentary reveals Bill to be a restless truth-seeker consumed by what happened to his sister. Her death shattered his family and dramatically affected the course of his life's direction, while America held it up as the textbook example of public apathy and selfishness.
Bill begins his investigation with the objective of finding out if 38 people really witnessed his sister's murder. He tries to track down any and all living witnesses to piece together an account of the night's events, which leads him everywhere from police reports, to the trial transcript to newspaper accounts. Bill also explores who his sister was and also who her killer was.
The film takes on a murder mystery tone at first with voice-over narration from Bill guiding the story more so than director James D. Solomon. Where he goes, the story seems to go. In some ways it does have a corny private investigator TV special vibe to it, but Kitty's case is a fascinating one. Bill's willingness to explore anything and everything about her murder, however, causes the film to lose focus. The objective becomes about obsessively scouring for any kernel of truth.
Then suddenly it becomes clear. "The Witness" is not a documentary about Kitty's case; it's a documentary about Bill's investigation of Kitty's case. Bill is the subject. Viewers learning of it for the first time will likely get swept up in the details as Bill has for 50 years, but it's Bill's dogged search for truth and obsession with this story that ultimately takes center stage and elevates what would otherwise be a compelling but standard-order documentary.
"The Witness" reveals something about the need for truth and more importantly, the need for narratives to fill in what truth is missing. The more people Bill meets, the more stories and accounts that he hears, and the more questions that arise. The percentage of truthful information about Kitty's murder grows ever smaller in a pool of inconsistent information.
Whereas everyone from the journalists who covered the story to the witnesses to the American public to the Genovese family filled in the gaps in truth with a story that gives it all meaning and allows them to move on, Bill cannot. That's what Solomon's documentary is really exploring and revealing in following this infamous case. A reenactment scene at the end of the film is particularly painful and off-putting from a viewer's perspective, but seen in the context of Bill being the subject, it makes a powerful amount of sense.
The dual nature of "The Witness" will not click with every viewer. Those hoping for a Kitty Genovese documentary will probably find it unsatisfying after a point, while those unable to zoom out and see the ways the film is about Bill will surely find it strange as well. Yet there's something powerfully meta about the film that will stimulate those who enjoy documentaries for the storytelling.
~Steven C
Thanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more