The Village
There are two types of people that will go to see The Village. One type goes to see what they consider to be an “M. Night Shyamalan” movie, even though they don’t know what that is. The other type goes to see a good movie. One type doesn’t like it, the other type does. Guess which is which.
For the record, I am of the second type. Read on for my full review.
Even reviewers are making this mistake. If you look at the reviews for this movie (which I don’t recommend, if you haven’t seen it) they are extremely polarized. It’s one of those love it or hate it movies — because of those two categories of people I mentioned above. Many reviewers are shamefully only rating this movie on their opinion on the ’surprise ending’. That’s the trap that first type of people fall into. They think that Shyamalan movies are about the twist. That’s not true. His twist is his trademark, that’s true, but his movies have never been about the twist. But after The Sixth Sense, the twist was all that people talked about (other than perhaps the phenomenal job of acting by Haley Joel Osmont). People started to get excited about Shyamalan movies because they wanted that twist again.
What these people fail to recognize is that Shyamalan’s movie aren’t about the twist, they’re about the people. They’re about the stories. They’re about mood. The Sixth Sense was about how people cope with events they have no control over. Unbreakable was about how people react to learning new things about themselves, how they will let it change their lives, and how sometimes you are the last to be convinced of the truth. In many ways, Signs was the opposite, it was about knowing something and not being able to convince others, and whether this should lead you to question others or question yourself.
In all of these movies, the main character is missing vital information that, after it is revealed, causes him/her to look back at the events with a different light. The ‘twist ending’ in all of these, is the director’s way of allowing the viewer to experience the same realization, and to be able to look back at the events with a different light. It is a clever device to make the movie more real to the viewers, by having the viewers grow to realization at the same time as the character. But it’s just a device! It helps the viewer believe in the characters. But it does not define the characters! And it certainly doesn’t define the story.
The Village is, in my opinion, Shyamalan’s best creation to date. He digs deeper than he has before, and has created a movie based on something even more raw than the others: fear. The Village is about how a small community deals with fear, and how they live despite it, with a combination of strength and innocence. But there are so many levels of fear addressed in the movie. There is fear of the monstrous creatures that live beyond the boundary of the village. Fear of loss. Fear of love. And fear for the safety of others.
The movie fully utilizes a wealth of acting talent, especially drawing from Bryce Dallas Howard (daughter of Ron Howard). This is her debut as lead character (previously only playing bit parts in her father’s films), and she is a true shining star. In the same way that people were stunned at the performance of Haley Joel Osmont in The Sixth Sense, she will go from basically unknown to highly celebrated very quickly. In the movie, she plays Ivy Walker, a blind but capable young lady. And at a meager attempt to convey the strength of her acting, I will just say this: she not only convincingly portrays a blind person — but she convincingly portrays a blind but immensely capable person…and never once loses the illusion of being blind.
The film uses very simplistic, almost childlike language, throughout. And by giving his characters very short phrases containing great weight, Shyamalan (also writer) has at once given the impression of both innocence and strength. The music is hauntingly beautiful — I was reminded more than once of Arvo Pärt. The cinemetography is stunning. The mood is complete.
This is the finest film I have seen all year. And, if The Return of the King is to be considered the third part of a film that began over three years ago (which I do), than I can safely say it is the best new film I have seen in a long time. I eagerly await a second viewing, but I find it safe to say this movie definately ranks in my top ten. After a second viewing to confirm this, I believe this will go in my top five.