
Witness
- R
- Year:
- 1985
- 112 min
- 682 Views
1 EXT. LANCASTER COUNTY, PA. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY
(TITLE SEQUENCE)
The faces of several young children are presented in
CLOSEUP, as they walk TOWARD US across a ploughed
field. On the SOUND TRACK, the haunting SOUNDS OF A
GREGORIAN FUNERAL CHANT. The CAMERA PANS UP to the
faces of older brothers and sisters, then to parents
and grandparents. These are not familiar faces, but
faces from another age, strong and open. All are
dressed in the distinctive clothing of the Amish.
Through the last traces of early morning mist another
group of black-clad figures make their way down a lane.
An Amish buggy, black and highwheeled, stark against
the landscape, appears, a spirited chestnut in the
traces.
Framed in the glass window of the narrow buggy is the
stern figure of an Amish man in black topcoat and
flatbrimmed hat, his bonneted wife in muted colors,
the face of a boy, attired like his father, peering
out.
The horse's breath smokes on the frosty air, the buggy
CREAKS on its springs, and there's the rhythmic CLIP-
CLOP OF HOOVES on the pavement.
4 ANOTHER LANE
Two Amish buggies reach a crossroads, join a procession
of three others. They disappear as the lane wends
through a leafless thicket of hickory.
5 VALLEY
A BIG SHOT... now the procession numbers almost a dozen
buggies... it is headed toward a distant farmhouse.
6 BARNYARD
Where literally dozens of carriages are parked. The
horses have been taken from the traces, removed to the
shelter of the barn.
7 EXT. LAPP FARMHOUSE - FRONT PORCH
As the black clad mourners begin to move into
the
house (women and children presumably first).
8 INT. LAPP FARMHOUSE
the coffins the upper half open. We see that
the worse
has been dressed in white linen, a piece of
white linen
partially covering the bearded face.
END TITLE SEQUENCE.
9 INT. LAPP FARMHOUSE
Partitions have been removed, making the
central rooms of the farmhouse a spacious hall. The place is
packed, a hundred-fifty or more Amish, all sitting in
absolute silence on rows of wooden benches.
A wooden coffin rests on a bench in the f.g.,
and near it the close relatives of the deceased occupy a
special Place.
RACHEL LAPP:
A young woman of perhaps twenty-seven. Her
face is pale and drawn. In happier circumstances,
although there haven't been too many of late in Rachel's
life, we would see a robust, sensual woman of full
figure, spirit and intelligence.
Eight-year-old SAMUEL LAPP flits next to his
mother; he
would appear stunned, possibly not entirely
comprehend-
ing events.
And the patriarch, ELI LAPP; his stubborn,
weathered -
yet not unkind - features grief-stricken.
THE MOURNERS:
Their faces...
CLOCK:
as it begins to CHIME nine a.m.
FAVORING PREACHER
as he removes his hat. As one, the men in the
congre-
gation remove their hats also.
9 CONTINUED:
Then the preacher begins to speak in a formal
German
dialect:
(SUBTITLES OVER)
PREACHER:
... a brother has been called home.
God has spoken through the death of
our neighbor, Jacob Lapp...
Translation
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Citation
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"Witness" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 28 Feb. 2021. <https://www.scripts.com/script/witness_954>.