After spending much of his career as a penniless human rights solicitor, Soon-ho (Jung Woo-sung) finds himself being granted the opportunity to join a large law firm and drastically change his circumstances. At his new firm, he receives his first case and first client: a housekeeper accused of killing her wealthy, elderly employer. The only witness to the murder is Ji-woo (Kim Hyang-gi), a teenage girl with autism. Soon-ho is persistent in his attempts to get to the truth of the matter, but can’t help wondering whether Ji-woo’s testimony can be trusted. The film Innocent Witness brings issues of trust to the forefront amid its highly detailed portrayal of autism spectrum disorder. By demonstrating that certain traits of autism spectrum disorder can in fact allow for a clearer image of the truth, the film resists the stereotype of people with autism as being deficient in some way. 

Choi Eun Young