AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
Brace yourselves for a shock, ladies and gentlemen. He’s done it again. M. Night Shayamalan has created another movie with a surprise ending that leaves your head spinning and your jaw hanging open. The writer, director, and producer behind such thrillers as The Sixth Sense and Signs has made another scary monster movie with an intellectual edge.
The Village centers on the small village of Covington, which lies on the edge of Covington Wood, where a pack of vicious creatures reside. The town elders of Covington have established a truce with these creatures and the terms are simple. The color red must not be shown as it attracts the creatures. The color yellow is a safe color. No one from the village may go into the woods. If they do not cross into the creatures’ territory, the creatures will not come into the village.
One young man, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix, Signs), however, makes repeated requests to the elders for permission to cross through the woods and go to the towns and get medicines for the village. Lucius has unprecedented courage. He is a good an honest man, and he holds the record in a game in which the young men stand on a stump with their backs to the woods and see how long it takes them to get scared and jump down. His record will never be broken. Despite Lucius’s courage, the town elders will not let him go to the towns.
Shortly after the announcement of Lucius’s engagement to Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard, Book of Love), a spirited young blind woman, Lucius is stabbed by Noah Percy (Adrian Brody, The Pianist), a young man with acute mental retardation who also loves Ivy. In order to save Lucius’s life, the elders allow Ivy to pass through the woods to get essential medicines.
I would go on, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
Someone who accompanied me to see this movie said that “everything just added up perfectly.” They were very correct and that is what I love about Shayamalan’s movies. Everything is laid out perfectly. If one were two watch the movie in reverse, clue after clue would be revealed as to the big surprise. His plot twists always make sense and have support in the end. His movies leave you discussing them days after you leave the theater and The Village is no different.
The really interesting thing about this movie is how, as my friend also pointed out, it almost changes genres half way through. It starts out as a monster movie. It builds up the viewer’s adrenaline and then it eases into a movie more about people, yet it still keeps you suspensefully on the edge of your seat.
The acting is also very good. The portrayals are subtle and believable. The characters pull you into the story and one really feels for them. Howard and Brody in particular are outstanding. They play the most difficult roles in the movie and they do an incredible job. This is Howard’s first major movie and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of her.
The Village lacked some of the magical “umph” that Shayamalan’s other movies have, but overall it is a beautifully well-made movie. It keeps the audience’s attention and it keeps them in suspense until the big finish. I rate this movie four out of five and I highly recommend it.
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