The Witness

James Solomon phenomenally intertwines the power of sensationalism and the devastating effects of foul journalism in an emotionally heavy, eighty-nine minute masterpiece, The Witness. By allowing America to follow Bill Genovese's personal journey to seek the truth of the brutal murder of his beloved sister, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, Solomon taps into the minds of many viewers and allows us to question something in which we, as Americans, are unconditionally susceptible to—the press. Bill Genovese does a superb job invalidating The New York Times article. By bringing the audience alongside with him as he met Kitty's friend, Sophia Farrar, as he hired an actress to reenact the death of Kitty Genovese, or as he read the letter in which Winston Moseley falsely put together lies, the audience was able to experience the roller-coaster of emotions and perceive Kitty Genovese as a person, not just an unfortunate example of Urban Apathy. This documentary will leave you realizing that there truly is two sides of a story and by simply projecting a shoddy argument, it can impact people's lives for years. The importance of engaging in sensationalism is brought to light as you see the emotional damage left to the Genovese family. Whether it be the new generations of Genovese ignorance towards their aunt, Kitty Genovese, or Kitty's siblings inability (besides Bill) to reveal the truth, The New York Times has left a mark.

"The Witness" (2015 release; 88 min.) is a documentary about the life and death of New Yorker Kitty Genovese. As the movie opens, we learn how Kitty was brutally murdered in Kew Gardens, a densely populated area of Queens and, as the New York Times then reported, how 38 witnesses watched and did nothing. Now 50 years later, Kitty's brother Bill is still bothered by many aspects of the whole thing. "The end hasn't been reached yet", he murmurs as he decides to get to the bottom of this. At that moment we're not even 10 min. into the documentary but to tell you more of how it plays out would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to watch it for yourself.

Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by James Solomon, but is really driven by Bill Genovese, whose investigation we follow on screen (and who co-produced the movie). The most puzzling aspect of the entire story is how the famed NYT got this story so wrong, I mean, their reporting has holes the size of Manhattan in it! Bill also takes the opportunity to look back at Kitty, not just her death, but also her life, in which we get a couple of interesting surprises as well. All that, plus a look back at the 50s and early 60s era, make for interesting viewing, and then some.

I happen to catch this on a recent trans-Atlantic flight, and it certainly helped the time move along. If you like crime documentaries, you could to a lot worse than this.

I've been super interested in this case ever since college, and this documentary didn't disappoint! 50 years after her murder, Kitty's brother re-looks at the facts of the case and tries to find closure. I didn't think that it mattered how many exact witnesses there were, and whether they were "eye" or "ear" witnesses. To me, people knew Kitty needed help, and they didn't help her. End of story. Looking at her mug shot always effects me greatly. And watching the re-enactment at the end, almost moved me to tears. It is a terrible case, and I hope this film does her memory justice. That poor, poor woman.

and p.s. - shame on the killer's son for making excuses during his interview. He seemed very out of touch, and sort of delusional about what happened. And playing the race card? Wow...

This was so well done. It's amazing how impartial her brother was while investigating the reactions of the media, police, and ear witnesses. Revisiting the building and recreating what they heard must have been excruciating. He displayed the same courage that must have been necessary to move forward with his life after her death and the severe injuries he suffered while serving as a marine during the Vietnam war. Getting to see glimpses of her personality only magnify the loss. The Genovese family have shown a great deal of character in dealing with the hardships in their lives. Her murderer's son is more concerned with victim blaming than accepting his father's responsibility for his own actions.

I recently had the pleasure of viewing the documentary Witness in my intro to writing English class. The documentary shows an in-depth analysis of the murder case of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese. She was murdered around 3 am by a man named Winston Moseley who has had an unrepresented history of murdering and raping women. Before I watched the doc, I read the first article posted by the New York Times (38 who saw murder and didn't call police) that was printed a couple weeks after Kitty's murder. From viewing Witness, I found that this article was intentionally skewed to push the blame of kitty's murder onto the residents of Kew Gardens in Queens, where kitty was murdered. It also neglected to inform its audience of the details of her murderer, the true antagonist of this story. This documentary has shown me that I shouldn't just stop at ground level if I want the true story, I need to really investigate what I'm being told. Thank you, Bill Genovese and family, for opening your world to us.