A key flaw with most “message” movies is that they invite a one-sided dialogue if they invite one at all.
The filmmakers take for granted that they’re addressing an ideologically homogenous audience. They often ignore the gradations within the political spectrum or the possibility that someone with a diametrically opposite point of view might be curious to hear their side of the story.
They seek nodding heads instead of initiating a conversation.
Ann Marie Fleming’s “Can I Get A Witness?” shouldn’t be a groundbreaker in its attempt to do the latter, but it sure feels like one. It’s nice to watch a movie trying to talk with you instead of talking down to you.
At an unspecified future date, all our ecological problems have been solved. The waters are clear, the skies are smog-free, overconsumption is no longer a concern and the global carbon footprint has shrunk to the size of your little toe.
Aye, but here’s the rub: this has been accomplished in part by imposing limits on the human lifespan. Once attaining the age of fifty, all are required to undergo euthanasia, accomplished by opening a box containing poison gas.
Surprisingly, most citizens not only agree with this policy but happily comply. They treat their 50th and final birthday as a form of going-away-forever celebration.
Recent high school graduate Kiah (Keira Jang) is assigned her first job as a Witness. She must sketch the last living moments of people to preserve their memory.
Why not just take a picture? Because all forms of photography, digital or otherwise, are among the technologies that have been banned as a drain on energy and resources.
Accompanied by Daniel (Joel Oulette), a more experienced Witness assigned to guide her through her first assignments, Kiah starts to document these final moments according to the wishes of the soon-to-be deceased.
Over time, however, the emotional burden starts to weigh on her and she begins questioning her society’s values, especially since her mother (Sandra Oh, terrific as usual) has started to prepare for her 50th birthday.
“Can I Get A Witness?” isn’t intended as a realistic depiction of tomorrow. Nor can it be considered a satire, although Kurt Vonnegut fans will likely respond well to its social commentary. It’s best described as a futuristic fable in the tradition of Ray Bradbury, an extrapolation of current trends done in a poetic fashion.
Beautifully photographed by C. Kim Miles on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, it captivatingly depicts an improbable but not impossible future, one that has regained much but at a morally uncertain price.
Writer-director Fleming (best known for the wonderful animated film “Window Horses”) has made a finely-crafted discussion piece that isn’t a cinematic argument as much as it is a set of questions:
- How much are you willing to sacrifice personally for the common good?
- Can a truly just system impose such demands on its citizenry?
Other than the use of COVID-19 face masks to protect onlookers from the poison gas, there’s very little that’s heavy-handed. Fleming has directed it with a light, lyrical touch that doesn’t detract from the seriousness of the issues involved.
Fleming’s movie belongs to a very small subset of political films that speak to audiences across the ideological spectrum. That list includes Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” and Rene Daalder’s “Massacre at Central High” (yes, you read that last one right).
Those films deliberately open themselves to multiple interpretations from diverse viewpoints.
#TIFFTribute Jury Chair Sandra Oh stars in Ann Marie Fleming’s CAN I GET A WITNESS? which will have its World Premiere at #TIFF24.
The film also stars Keira Jang and Joel Oulette.https://t.co/CTPQX2f7Ld pic.twitter.com/oJWQDNwWsG
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) July 22, 2024
Conservatives and progressives alike will find much to respond to with “Witness” and to discuss amongst each other, provided they’re willing to do so. Some viewers who adhere to notions of “human exceptionalism” may see an indictment of what they regard as the irrational and inhumane lengths some activists will go to save the Earth.
Hold on, progressive environmentalists and even the filmmakers themselves might counter. What this movie is really saying is that we need to enact social change right now, lest such radical measures become regarded as necessary for staving off disaster.
Hold on yet again, say the conservative environmentalists and Third Way types: maybe this movie is trying to say that we need to develop a rational environmental policy without losing touch with our humanity or casting away the benefits of civilization.
Any one of these perspectives are valid, and for that matter, all of them could be true at once. There are still other ideas at work, such as those on the roles and responsibilities of the artist in society, that provide further food for thought.
Any film that tries to provoke a civil discussion should especially be welcomed in our fractious landscape.
Paradoxically, if the movie has a major flaw, it’s one of the best things about it. Kiah’s sketches come to life through some beautifully rendered animation seamlessly integrated into the live footage.
The effect is spellbinding, yet it distracts us at times when we should be paying closer attention to characters and dialogue. It’s also used inconsistently, with most of the animated sequences coming at the beginning.
There’s an obvious thematic reason for this. It signifies that Kiah has not just grown up but had her illusions of the outside world dispelled. However, it also makes the use of animation seem unnecessary and self-indulgent when the film is already able to create an ambiance of magical realism without it.
Still, “Can I Get A Witness?” is too strongly made, written and acted to let one flaw completely unweave it. This has been a dreary, uninspired year for movies, with most of 2024’s fare meriting little more than a casual glance.”
“Can I Get A Witness?” is one of the few that deserves a long, hard look.
A.A. Kidd is a sessional university instructor in Canada who proudly volunteers for the Windsor International Film Festival. He appreciates classic movies, hard science fiction and bad puns.
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