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

Tino Pimentel The Witness The intended audience is people familiar with the "Kitty Genovese" incident from the 1960s. The purpose is to educate the audience with the truth behind what happened to Kitty Genovese, as well as understanding her brother, Bill Genovese's perspective. I remember reading before the documentary "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police", depicting the death of Kitty without any aid from her neighbors. I was curious as to what kind of person society lost from the incident. The Witness was filmed throughout many homes of everyone involved in the "Kitty Genovese" incident, including journalists, neighbors, and Bill's home. Bill takes the viewers through every key event of the incident, while giving back story to who exactly Kitty Genovese was to him. The film includes a reenactment of the incident, providing exact viewing angles and depth to all circumstances involved. The documentary uses vivid animations during the case study scenes. The ending narration is truly built up as nerve racking, would recommend watching for yourself.

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.

Joey Scaffidi "The Witness" is definitely an emotional movie and I truly feel bad for Bill Genovese and his family. The purpose of this documentary was to help explain what happened to Kitty Genovese. You get to see what some of the witnesses actually saw and heard during the murder. The interviews and camera work were very well done. Before I watched the movie I knew about what happened and how it really wasn't 38 eyewitnesses. Although it was very emotional, especially the ending, I did not like the movie. I expected to end up with answers but instead felt like it just left more questions. Why investigate the murders now 50 years after the fact? Why not do it earlier, when there probably would have been more answers. It seemed that the people that turned down to be interviewed, like Moseley and Kitty's husband, had already moved on and didn't want to reopen old wounds. I feel like this movie was a waste of time as I did not learn anything knew after watching the movie and just felt bad that Bill Genovese wasn't able to get the closure he might have wanted.