Madere - Mosquito Coast and Witness

Both Mosquito Coast and Witness feature an element of the son in the film that has experiences that take their innocence and reverence for their patriarch and move them beyond their patriarch's knowledge. The beginning of each film features Samuel of Witness and Charlie of Mosquito Coast exhibiting their innocence and idolization of the patriarch of the film. Samuel's idolization can best be seen in the very beginning of the film, as he is traveling to the train station on the back of the horse and buggy, and sees the world around him with obvious admiration. For Charlie, the idolization and innocence is shown in the opening scene of the film while he is in the truck with his father, listening to his rants, while the voice-over proclaims his father as a "genius."
Samuel, however, loses his innocence early in the film when the inciting action, the murder of the police officer in the train station bathroom, takes it from him. In this scene, his loss of innocence is most accurately conveyed through the look in Samuel's eyes, which are conveying all of the conflicting feelings he has at the time: fear, confusion, uncertainty. In Samuel's eyes, you can see that he has witnessed something most people never see--especially the people in the Amish community in which he was raised.
After this scene, Samuel also begins to show a curiosity and affinity for the "English" world. This is most evident when he finds John Book's bullets, with obvious amazement, studies them. This is a scene he shares with his grandfather Eli (the patriarch of the film). With Samuel still close to him physically in the scene (and emotionally, as well), Eli warns Samuel of the dangers of the bullets and the "English" world of John Book and Philadelphia. This scene, with the proxemics of the characters, shows how Samuel is still close with his grandfather, but is also experiencing a loss of confidence and safety in the world he grew up in.
Charlie's loss of innocence and confidence in the world he once knew is, like Samuel's, also conveyed in a scene with his patriarch (his father, Allie). When the ice maker catches fire and blows up, Charlie observes his father become more concerned with the death of his invention than with the death of human beings. It is obvious in a look Charlie gives his father in this scene that what Charlie used to believe was genius is actually mental and emotional instability. Allie looks particularly insane in this scene, with most of his face drowned by the darkness and only the blaze of the fire reflected in his glasses. Charlie's face is also mostly covered in darkness, again except for his eyes, where the realization about his father's true nature is learned. The scene shows Charlie look over his shoulder at his father (with Allie just in the corner of the scene) and Charlie almost winces and pulls away from Allie. Charlie is also the dominant feature in the scene, which conveys to the audience that Charlie will have to defeat is father, save his family, and become the hero in the end.