Forced Testimony

Its not that Israeli cinema hasn't given us some bad excuses for film waste. What makes this film top them, is the fact it has the nerve to take itself seriously.

Anat Azmon's neighbor gets raped. She accidentally sees the guy and becomes the main witness against him. His brother, a mobster, threatens her life continuously and begins entering them. her ex-husband uses this to try to take their child from her. When you write it down, it sounds okay, doesn't it ?

Its not just that everyone plays bad (except maybe for Uri Gavriel playing the mobster). the script gets you bored too fast. You get the feeling that it should have been a thriller (I'm not even going to say a psychological thriller). But nothing makes sense. And that's just the first level of 'Bad'. The level that most films can get to. The second level ? you just have to see it to believe it. Just to get you clued in, this movie shows a five-foot guy successfully raping a seven-foot woman (who accidentally bashes him half-way across the room on one shot). She's so afraid of the midget she throws up on him. This is the opening scene.

I picked this old VHS up in a charity shop because the cover made it sound like it could be okay. What a mistake! I won't bother to describe the plot as others have, but it's hard to believe "Forced Witness" came from the usually reliable Cannon/Golan-Globus team who were behind most of Chuck Norris's classics and numerous other enjoyable films. Pathetic on all levels- bad dubbing, bad acting, no violence other than a crappy fight scene, no blood, no sex other than some brief topless shots. The rape scene is not even on screen for half its duration! The police characters are really hopeless and the bad guys are just plain sad. Boring with endless scenes of tedious talk and a really mediocre subplot of the mother's relationship with her new beau and the disapproval of her son, who is a butt ugly little obnoxious creep. Don't bother at all, watch "Death Wish" or "I Spit On Your Grave" instead!