I WITNESS
US, 2003, 98 minutes, Colour.
Jeff Daniels, James Spader, Portia de Rossi, Clifton Collins Jr, Wade Williams.
Directed by Rowdy Herrington.
I Witness is a film with a social conscience. The action takes place in Tijuana and the Mexican- American border (close to the scenes of Bordertown, with Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas looking at parallel problems).
While aspects of the film seem to be about the drug culture and drug dealings on the border, the focus is actually on industrial relationships. American companies, taking advantage of Mexican legislation and lack of it, as well as lack of union power, exploit the workers. The film also has an environmental aspect with toxic poisons being the cause of the deaths of many of the workers. This is also linked with political and police corruption.
Jeff Daniels has a strong role of a former State Department worker who has operated around the world, angry with callous attitudes of the west towards Sudan, has left his job and is a union activist and supervisor. James Spader represents the American government, State Department. Portia de Rossi plays a representative for the factories. Clifton Collins Jr portrays an honest policeman in Tijuana.
The film shows some atrocities at the hands of the company and its henchmen, with the connivance of the police. There is also an intriguing background of the way that drug dealers operate in this area.
The film is strong in characterisation, on drama, on interactions as well as the social conscience and has something of a downbeat ending, giving some meaning to the title.
The film was directed by Rowdy Herrington, generally a director of action films from Jack’s Back, Roadhouse, the Bruce Willis actioner Striking Distance, A Murder of Crows. Herrington also made the much more genteel film, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.
1.A successful action film? Thriller? The ingredient: politics, social concerns, poverty, the workplace, environment, police and political corruption, drug dealing? The scope of the film?
2.Tijuana, the vivid detail of the city, the streets, the bars, the restaurants, hotels, the police? The American- Mexican border? The terrain? Authentic detail? The musical score?
3.The title, James Rhodes, Claudio Castillo? Their witness? Witnesses as martyrs? James Rhodes as a martyr?
4.The opening, the two boys and the bike-riding on the border, their satisfaction, the boys being shot? The scene of the villagers, in the tunnel? The later discovery of their bodies? The man being pursued and falling into the tunnel? The puzzle, the forensic evidence? The police investigation? The village, the population disappeared? The presumption about drug dealers? The truth, the chemical spill, the villagers chosen to clean it up, their work, their infection, the deaths, their being put into the tunnel, the tools at the end of the tunnel, the explosion? The orders, the company, Logan, the police connivance, the foreman – and his repentance?
5.James Rhodes and his life, past marriage, working for the State Department, trouble spots around the world, in the Sudan, the incident with the journalist complaining about the food and the famine down the street, Rhodes punching him? Losing his job? Anger? His support of the unions, coming to supervise the rights ? His bosses and contact with them, his meeting Emily Thompson? The clash between the two? Observing the company, the workers and the ballot for the union? Meeting Douglas Draper, the past relationship? The confrontations, observation, the violence and threats? His being abducted and taken to see Gomez, the lawyer eating his meal, the thugs, the return trip? The muggings, the murders in the street? Meeting Castillo, their interaction, Castillo’s suspicions? The bodies of the two boys? His meeting the young boy who explained what happened with the bikes on the border, finding the young boy with the helmet, the bartering for it? Watching the vote, the defeat of unionism? Emily Thompson and her disillusionment? The drink at the bar? Their being abducted, taking to Gomez? Digging and finding the American boys’ bodies? The contact with the father, his coming to the coroner, the sample, the autopsy? The role of Captain Madrid?
6.James Rhodes as a character, earnest, going to the village, meeting Castillo, under fire? Castillo’s family? With the priest, the confession, the tape, the recorder, getting the tape to Castillo? His confronting Madrid, his death?
7.Emily Thompson, her role, naivety, with the company, the affair with Douglas? Going to see Rhodes? The vote, changing her mind, helping, the abduction, the finding of the bodies? Her taking the sample across the border for checking?
8.Castillo, a good man, his decency, living in the United States as an illegal, his family, Rhodes’s visit, going to the village, the investigation, under fire? Watching for the criminal thug after the information from Gomez, the jokes about handcuffs? His being suspended, drinking, the end, his arresting Madrid?
9.Douglas Draper, the State Department, investigating the death of the boys, the relationship with Emily, discussions, savvy, the meal with James, the final capture?
10.Gomez, the drugs, the thugs, the creation of the image of the non-existent drug lord, creating fear, blame?
11.Captain Madrid, his control, attitude towards Castillo, in league with the company, on the take, the shooting of James Rhodes, the shooting of the men, the interview with the media, his being arrested?
12.Logan, his role, the revelation of the truth, his arrest, his whimpering in the car?
13.The portrait of social problems in North America? The film as a witness to these problems, the expose, the witness of the martyr?
