The Village: We're Safe Here

[mouton]

The village of "M. Night Shaymalan’s The Village" is surrounded by forestry, with clear distinctions in the form of bright, green flags denoting where the extremities of the village finish and the forest begins. This village’s inhabitants exist as a peaceful society focused on the quality of life instead of the quantifying of all goods and services. The village is governed by a panel of elders, each of which has lived through a traumatic loss at one point in their lives. In fact, these traumas are what originally led these idealists away from the increasingly violent and greedy towns in the first place. Realistically though, are the founders hopeful optimists or are they psychologically damaged individuals who shut down in the face of pain and consequently ran away to avoid having to deal with their sorrow?

The forest that surrounds the village is inhabited by “Those we don’t speak of,” a mysterious and enigmatic species that shares an unspoken arrangement with the inhabitants of the village; you don’t come into our forest and we won’t eat you alive. Considering they’re not supposed to be spoken of, the people in the village do an awful lot of speaking about them. With some exception, it seems at times they’re all they can speak of. Granted, how could you not? These villagers have been living in and surrounded by fear their whole lives.

The majority of the plot focuses around two particular villagers, Lucius Hunt and Ivy Walker (played quite charismatically by Joaquin Phoenix and welcome-celebrity-daughter-turned-actress Bryce Dallas Howard). These two are the most ambitious dreamers in the village and it is no surprise that they form a connection. It is the ever-growing size of this connection that forces the villagers to see past their walls; to understand or at least begin to understand that it is only when you face your fears that you experience great joy and growth.

Shaymalan has a reputation for messing with people’s minds and pulling a celluloid rabbit out of his hat at the last second. This might get the audiences into the theatres but it also makes the first two thirds of his films seem almost irrelevant to these audiences. And the expectations are so high at this point that it almost seems near impossible not to disappoint.

That being said, if you or someone you know went to see "The Village" with a similar frame of mind, go again! As a writer, I feel much empathy for Shaymalan as the first two thirds of this particular film are brimming with insight about the vulnerable nature of love, the controlling power of fear and the debilitating sorrow that can come when you mix the two. The walls around this village, originally established as a means of protection became walls that merely limited these villagers from realizing their potential. This film should not suffer the same fate as its characters.

[stevetseitz]

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma wrapped in an O.K. movie

The current mind-blower of American cinema is at it again. M. Night Shyamalan has carefully crafted another interesting exercise for the viewer.

I say exercise because this film lacks the heart and the emotional depth present in some of Shyamalan's earlier works "The Sixth Sense" or "Signs".

I might as well get the spoiling out of the way now because in order to move on to the themes of the film it is required. The story of the film is a sham within a sham. The residents of a 19th century "village" are actually hostages of a group of crazed or fanatical neo-puritans who call themselves the "elders".

These elders keep control over their totalitarian mini society through the use of clever manipulation and propaganda techniques. They have convinced all the other residents of the town that to leave the borders of the town is certain death at the hands of some mythical or supernatural creatures. They even portray these creatures using elaborate costumes in order to frighten the younger residents into submission. Their goal is to isolate and control the environment in order to separate the residents from what they see as a evil outside world.

The next level of sham is that this "19th century" town isn't simply isolated from their industrial revolution age peers. They are actually a living, breathing human time-capsule existing within a huge nature preserve in the present day. The preserve was set up by the billionaire relative of William Hurt's character, who is a university professor. The whole thing started when a grieving Hurt comes up with the bright idea that the elders, all members of a "relatives of victims of violence" support group should start their sham society. I know, I know...it sounds contrived and it is. But the method to this madness is effective and eerie. I enjoyed the superb cinematography and good performances by Brodie, Phoenix, Weaver and Hurt. Some of the dialogue must have been a chore to deliver and they do a passable job of keeping straight, even earnest, expressions on their faces.

I'll pretty much see anything M. Night makes because it is never boring. I much prefer "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable", and "Signs" to this film. The end is either reassuring or horrible depending on whether you like faux-19th century totalitarian brainwashing or not.

[Chris Knipp]

I must compliment both mouton and stevetseitz on the quality of their writing and the clarity of their exposition of the film, here. Rather than go further into it I will simply say that coming from a director who for a while showed such precocity and talent, both "Signs" and "The Village" have been increasingly disappointing, and a merely ok movie just isn't acceptable.

Are the actors well used? I thihk not. Brody is embarrassing, Weaver is coasting, Hurt is yelling, and Phoenix is unpleasant and overacts.

It seems to me that despite the gorgeous production and fine camerawork and the touching, lively Ingmar Bergman moments of summer love, etc., the echos of The Crucible and Blair Wtich Project and other pastiches do not mask a certain lack of narrative coherence. Somehow Dogville for all its artificiality establishes a sense of society and day to day life better than The Village does: Shyamalan is a little too busy weaving romances to weave a sense of group hysteria. Though plot twists that don't parse are a Shyamalan hallmark by now, the blind girl's terror when she enters the woods goes against her character and the developing situation, and the idiot's impersonation is hard to credit: how would he think of such a thing, and how would he be able to execute it? This time continuity is lacking and construction is deeply faulty.

Worst of all, this movie is relatively dull. I don't think it's quite true, with respect, to say that Shyamalan pulled celluloid rabbits out in the last moment and his buildups were "almost irrelevant." The early segment of "Unbreakable" is teeming with excitement and relevance.

Do you notice how Shyamalan, who is reportedly increasingly insular and secretive in his lifestyle, has also been narrowing down the scope of his locales, first to a very rural area, now to a hermetic theme park? Next he'll be restricting himself to the interior of somebody's mind -- and I guess he'll have to start stealing from Cronenberg.