Film Review - Rear Window

Rear window is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, etc. It's about a photographer called Jeff, who is stuck inside with a broken leg, and begins to spy on his neighbours to cure his boredom. As the days go on he begins to suspect one of them (Lars Thorwald) has killed his wife.

I would personally give the film 4/5 because I really enjoyed the whole concept of not fully knowing what was happening inside other peoples houses and lives, and how it emphasised the idea that we are just nosy people judging others on how *we* choose to perceive them, and not how they actually are. The fact that the film was shot from the point of view of Jeff, and how we never saw the insides of the other peoples houses, makes the viewer feel like they are Jeff, and they can make up their own opinions about what is going on in the house opposite. No one would fully know the truth apart from Lars Thorwald.

I also like the fact that he did end up being a murderer. As I was watching the film I was expecting Jeff and the others to be proved wrong and Hitchcock to have written a completely different script explaining the events that had happened from Thorwald's perspective, showing how they had completely got the wrong idea about him. But the fact that he did end up being a murderer shows that maybe keeping an eye out on the people around you, or your neighbours, means you could spot something suspicious, or out of the ordinary about one of them.

The most exciting bit for me was when Lisa (Jeff's partner), broke into Thorwald's house trying to find evidence, but you can see him coming back, as Lisa is still inside. As the whole film is shot from Jeff's house, you as a viewer felt exactly how Jeff was feeling as he saw Thorwald coming in and opening the door., and in a way, the fact that Jeff couldn't do anything about the situation in front of him, emphasises how viewers of films feel when something is about to happen that the characters don't know about, and you as a third viewer feel frustrated and want to shout at the TV to let the characters know what is about to happen.