leonguyen-87052 The documentary is narrated by Bill Genovese as he searches for answers about the murder of his sister Kitty Genovese. Kitty was killed in the night of March 13, 1964 and the truth about her murder has been the subject of many theories as to what really happened that night, and in 2015, Bill decided to get answers of his own. When it comes to filming, the camera would follow Bill's journey, with cameras in place, catching his interactions and his facial expressions and reactions. Being a documentary that is more of a personal subject, it took a serious, realistic, and used music to add an emotional touch. Bill's interviews with the different witnesses was interesting as it shows each persons different perspective or accounts and adds accuracy to the content of the documentary. The part of the documentary that was most interesting was the reenactment of Kitty's murder as it not only gave Bill an understanding of what she went through but also puts him in the position of the witnesses himself and allows him to form his own beliefs to what may have occurred. This part also gave viewers a personal perspective on what Kitty went through and puts them in the position of the witnesses. This gives viewers a chance to form their own opinions without bias. A surprising part of the interview was when Bill met with Steve and the conversation they had as it shows how each viewed the case and how they live up to their legacy. The documentary could've shown more details of the interviews to show all the actions that occurred between Bill and each individual and show more of their personalities. Overall this documentary was well done, something that would be recommended for the curious minded of one of the most compelling cases in the world.

Reno Rangan 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

joshautrey The Witness documents Bill Genovese's attempt to understand the circumstances surrounding the murder of his sister, Kitty Genovese. Those familiar with the murder by Winston Moseley and the subsequent explosion of media coverage were most likely the intended audience. With this documentary, Bill sets out to find the truth about what happened on the night of March 13th, 1964, and the alleged thirty-eight witnesses who did nothing. Before watching this movie, I was aware of the true events as well as the sensationalism that followed, and I expected to see the "urban apathy" angle on the events discussed and refuted which was included. My favorite sections of the film were the parts that were stylistic, gray scale, and animated, and where silhouettes of the witnesses looking down on the first attack voiced their recollections of the events unfolding. I also enjoyed the tense interaction between Bill and Winston Moseley's son in which both sides are victims of circumstance. However, I did not like the reenactment where Bill has a woman scream loudly on the same street where Kitty was attacked. It seemed like a cheap way to evoke an emotional response from the viewers and further played into Bill's obsession with the murder. Overall, I enjoyed this documentary, but I was let down by the seemingly intentional lack of conclusion. I would recommend this to anyone curious about the true events and the aftermath of the murder of Kitty Genovese.

Ethan Webb This film, "The Witness," is directed towards an audience that enjoys crime mysteries and documentaries of this sort. This documentary itself was intended to educate people about the murder of Kitty Genovese and her brother's hope to find out what exactly happened that night. Before viewing the documentary I had some background knowledge of the case and was expecting this to be a look into the murder similar to what a "Cold Case Files," would do with the case. This was filmed to give the story of what her brother went through trying to solve the mystery as to why no one called the police during Kitty's attack. This was a much more interesting take on the case than the articles I've read about the case and I would recommend this documentary to anyone interested in the case or murder cases in general.