User reviews

This was a riveting movie from beginning to end. William Genovese embarks on a long and difficult search for clues as to what really happened to his sister Kitty back in 1964 when she was brutally murdered. As a marine losing both legs in Vietnam, you can feel his pain knowing that his buddies were there for him, but his sister apparently died alone. William slowly begins to fit together a more complete picture of what happened. I think that his honesty and lack of judgment allowed him to discover things that would probably have remained hidden for ever. What is uncovered is complex and not easily defined. What is evident, however, is that nothing can ever replace original and painstaking research. The movie is well produced and the graphic illustrations are imaginative and well placed.

I saw this new doc at a double play with The Lovers and The Despot and the two films couldn't be more different. In scale, the two subjects don't match at all: one woman's senseless 50-year-old slaying against a couple of South Korean filmmakers captive to the whims of Kim Jong Il. Yet The Lovers and The Despot put me to sleep.

The Witness, by contrast, kept me riveted. My jaw dropped, my eyes wet, I got very angry --- everything you want from a good documentary. I'm old enough to remember the murder of Kitty Genovese or at least the aftermath. You know, the woman who screamed for help and was murdered over a 35 minute period while her neighbors did nothing to assist her?

Or did they? And that's where The Witness really goes in for the choke. What you thought you knew for certain may not be true, just as what Kitty's brother Bill assumed was fact and based many of his voluntary (and involuntary) life decisions upon for the rest of his life.

Filmmaker James Solomon holds back nothing while holding his subjects in nothing but the utmost respect. This is largely in credit to Bill Genovese who displays incredible honesty, tolerance, and courage as he uncovers holes, detours, and details in his sister's senseless murder and it's subsequent reporting and media blitz that are shocking and very disturbing.

But you're never invited to pity Bill, and you won't. The Witness takes a very grim and depressing event and turns it inside out by placing you as close to the action as possible, then gently daring you to not look away. You won't.

"The Witness" (2015 release; 88 min.) is a documentary about the life and death of New Yorker Kitty Genovese. As the movie opens, we learn how Kitty was brutally murdered in Kew Gardens, a densely populated area of Queens and, as the New York Times then reported, how 38 witnesses watched and did nothing. Now 50 years later, Kitty's brother Bill is still bothered by many aspects of the whole thing. "The end hasn't been reached yet", he murmurs as he decides to get to the bottom of this. At that moment we're not even 10 min. into the documentary but to tell you more of how it plays out would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to watch it for yourself.

Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by James Solomon, but is really driven by Bill Genovese, whose investigation we follow on screen (and who co-produced the movie). The most puzzling aspect of the entire story is how the famed NYT got this story so wrong, I mean, their reporting has holes the size of Manhattan in it! Bill also takes the opportunity to look back at Kitty, not just her death, but also her life, in which we get a couple of interesting surprises as well. All that, plus a look back at the 50s and early 60s era, make for interesting viewing, and then some.

I happen to catch this on a recent trans-Atlantic flight, and it certainly helped the time move along. If you like crime documentaries, you could to a lot worse than this.

This film was made by Kitty Genovese's brother, William. He spends this movie talking about and interviewing just a few people about the infamous murder of his sister--a story sensationalized by the New York Times back in 1964. Unfortunately, it was over 50 years ago...and few witnesses are still alive and the murderer wouldn't participate in the film. Still, the documentary was interesting in spots--such as when it becomes apparent that the Times actually botched the story...there WERE witnesses who claim to have called the police and Kitty definitely did NOT die alone as the paper claimed. Additionally, interviews with the person who stayed with her when she died and the interview with the killer's son were mildly interesting...mildly. However, the film seems to say nothing definitely and the story only held my interest but never did much more.

This was so well done. It's amazing how impartial her brother was while investigating the reactions of the media, police, and ear witnesses. Revisiting the building and recreating what they heard must have been excruciating. He displayed the same courage that must have been necessary to move forward with his life after her death and the severe injuries he suffered while serving as a marine during the Vietnam war. Getting to see glimpses of her personality only magnify the loss. The Genovese family have shown a great deal of character in dealing with the hardships in their lives. Her murderer's son is more concerned with victim blaming than accepting his father's responsibility for his own actions.

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

It's a really touching and sad story but it gives you details, that people wasn't aware of, of how that tragic murder happened, i recommend it

A young woman dies alone after being attacked three times at night and 38 witnesses didn't call the police? Or was it? Fifty years later, Bill Genovese, brother of slain girl, returns to the crime scene in an attempt to get answers their family was too sore in exploring before. Twists and turns and lost opportunities, all based on a newspaper article that took license with the story. There are still too many questions left behind. There was no information on what the police actually did that night. There was a list of 38 people, but what happened to them? Did they read the newspaper article and realize that they were part of that list or not as one interviewee realized. Was there no trial coverage to dispute what the original New York Times article said? What was the killer doing there in the first place? I think this documentary could have made a stronger case against media sensationalism, but I understand that this was one man's goal to save his sister and her legacy after her death. One last note, I found it rather silly that the killer's son was afraid of meeting Bill, thinking he was part of Genovese crime family. I don't think the mob would wait 50 years to get their revenge.

I've been super interested in this case ever since college, and this documentary didn't disappoint! 50 years after her murder, Kitty's brother re-looks at the facts of the case and tries to find closure. I didn't think that it mattered how many exact witnesses there were, and whether they were "eye" or "ear" witnesses. To me, people knew Kitty needed help, and they didn't help her. End of story. Looking at her mug shot always effects me greatly. And watching the re-enactment at the end, almost moved me to tears. It is a terrible case, and I hope this film does her memory justice. That poor, poor woman.

and p.s. - shame on the killer's son for making excuses during his interview. He seemed very out of touch, and sort of delusional about what happened. And playing the race card? Wow...

The brother of Kitty Genovese investigates the circumstances of her murder and the truth of the story that dozens of locals witnessed the crime and did nothing to intervene.

This is a story I have been aware of for 20 years. I never investigated it in any detail, but had been fascinated and did hear that much of the original story as reported in the media (and subsequent textbooks) was wrong. Here, in painstaking detail, we get to the bottom of things.

Anyone who takes the time to seek out the documents, track down witnesses,and even speak with the killer's son... that deserves a commendation. This should be winning awards right and left. The fact it is a family member makes it even stronger.

I recently had the pleasure of viewing the documentary Witness in my intro to writing English class. The documentary shows an in-depth analysis of the murder case of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese. She was murdered around 3 am by a man named Winston Moseley who has had an unrepresented history of murdering and raping women. Before I watched the doc, I read the first article posted by the New York Times (38 who saw murder and didn't call police) that was printed a couple weeks after Kitty's murder. From viewing Witness, I found that this article was intentionally skewed to push the blame of kitty's murder onto the residents of Kew Gardens in Queens, where kitty was murdered. It also neglected to inform its audience of the details of her murderer, the true antagonist of this story. This documentary has shown me that I shouldn't just stop at ground level if I want the true story, I need to really investigate what I'm being told. Thank you, Bill Genovese and family, for opening your world to us.

James Solomon phenomenally intertwines the power of sensationalism and the devastating effects of foul journalism in an emotionally heavy, eighty-nine minute masterpiece, The Witness. By allowing America to follow Bill Genovese's personal journey to seek the truth of the brutal murder of his beloved sister, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, Solomon taps into the minds of many viewers and allows us to question something in which we, as Americans, are unconditionally susceptible to—the press. Bill Genovese does a superb job invalidating The New York Times article. By bringing the audience alongside with him as he met Kitty's friend, Sophia Farrar, as he hired an actress to reenact the death of Kitty Genovese, or as he read the letter in which Winston Moseley falsely put together lies, the audience was able to experience the roller-coaster of emotions and perceive Kitty Genovese as a person, not just an unfortunate example of Urban Apathy. This documentary will leave you realizing that there truly is two sides of a story and by simply projecting a shoddy argument, it can impact people's lives for years. The importance of engaging in sensationalism is brought to light as you see the emotional damage left to the Genovese family. Whether it be the new generations of Genovese ignorance towards their aunt, Kitty Genovese, or Kitty's siblings inability (besides Bill) to reveal the truth, The New York Times has left a mark.