Review

This Lumet dramatic thriller so resembles Peter Weir's Witness that it has been dubbed Vitness. Griffith is a New York undercover cop sent into Brooklyn's Hasidic community to root out a jewel thief/killer. All too predictably, of course, all of her coarse, unladylike behavior is transformed by the gentle, loving touch of this quaint people, but not before she tries her best to lead the Rabbi's son to temptation (her name, incidentally, is Emily Eden!). The film can't overcome its formulaic shallowness and fails to rise above its gushy, adoring view of the Hasidim.