Stars: Tom Sizemore, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Forest Whitaker, William Sadler, Shawn Hatosy

Director: Richard Pearce

Summary: Bobby Batton is a key figure in Boston's criminal underworld. He had been helping himself to the Mafia's profits and they had sent a hitman for him in the middle of the night. He survives the attack, but he must disappear. Eventually he is forced to give evidence to the FBI to save the lives of his family.

From director Richard Pearce (A FAMILY THING, LEAP OF FAITH) comes a suspenseful, thrilling drama featuring Sizemore's (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, WITNESS TO THE MOB) Golden Glob nominated performance as a mobster who must take his family into the Witness Protection Program after putting their life in jeopardy and testifying against his own mob boss. Whitaker (GHOST DOG: The Way of the Samurai) is an agent who helps the family cope with the psychological stress that comes with a life in hiding and the acquisition of a new identity. An HBO original presentation.

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In Witness Protectionlifelong Mafia hood Bobby "Bats" Batton (Tom Sizemore) wakes up one night to discover a price on his head and nowhere to go but to the cops, under protection as a federal witness. Based on the article "The Invisible Family" by Robert Sabbag, this HBO film drops us into the volatile period between lives as Bats takes his family off the streets and into a federal bunker where they begin shaping their new identities. Surrounded by surveillance cameras and locked in an apartment that feels like a fancy prison block, the formerly prosperous family starts to suffocate and self-destruct while it becomes clear just what a "readjustment of expectations" really means.

Sizemore is excellent as the hot-headed gangster paralysed by helplessness, but Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is especially moving as the once-hopeful wife who buckles as her husband's secrets and lies are revealed. It's an interesting dynamic: the swaggering goodfella forced into a working-class life elicits little sympathy, but the toll on the family torn apart by recriminations, blame and frustration is affecting and powerful. They're undergoing a crash course in family therapy with federal official Forest Whitaker as their tough-love crisis counsellor. While the screenplay at times feels contrived, the drama is always potent. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Scene Index
Year:	1999
Release Date:	June 7, 2004
Runtime:	97 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C C D 8716
Keywords:	General, Witness, Thriller, Protection
Genre:	Thriller