The Village
DVD Review
M. Night Shyamalan, who made a big impression with "The sixth
Sense" and "Sleepy Hollow" is back with a movie that doesn't use
many shock effects but drags you slowly into a story which takes
place in a 19th century period village. The small community
which lives in that village seems to be completely cut off from
the rest of the world. Lots of years ago the elder people from
the cottage had left the outside world behind to start their own
world. Money, violence or crimes are completely unknown to the
younger people in the village. It seems to be a perfect place
but nobody is allowed to travel past a well marked border which
completely encloses the village.
Across the border in the nearby woods seem to live some
mysterious and dangerous creatures. Somehow there seems to by
treaty between the villagers and "Those we do not speak of"
which keeps them out of each others territory. The treaty hasn't
been violated for a long time and everything seems to be in some
kind of balance. A balance which gets destabilized by the young
Lucious Hunt, who dared to take a stroll into the woods, perhaps
to test his theory that "Those we do not speak of" don't harm
the innocent. Anyway the violation of the treaty causes some
more or less chilling warnings to appear, starting with the
finding of several skinned animals.
The warnings become more and more serious, when something
happens inside the village that causes a strong need of help
from outside. A young blind woman is allowed to try to pass
through the woods to get some help from "the towns".
Without giving away too much of the story, which is never a good
idea in a Shyamalan movie it's perhaps a good idea to destroy
some illusions about it. The movie basically is a love story put
into a disturbing setting. It's also accompanied by some more or
less philosophical questions, which surface here and there. It's
surely not a shocker, nor a horror movie; you won't find much
gore in it. However if you are willing to accept that, it works
quite well. The story although being quite simply, has some nice
twists and turns as well as some distractions built in which
won't work anymore if I would tell you more about the story.
The movie works quite well because of the convincing work of the
actors. Besides it seems there are no breaks in the movie-logic,
even some questions which might arise later are explained in a
believable way. Well to make it short: "The Village" is surely
worth a rent, it might be also worth a buy if the price is
right. I got it for less than 10 EUR which is a good value for
the money. Keep in mind the story is advancing at a slow pace
beside the few jumpy scenes, but the characters are well
modelled and I found it quite enjoyable. However I am not sure
that Shyamalan's fans will like it, because there are not many
shock effects. Tension is build here and there but it never gets
really exiting.
Cyclone for Alive, 2006-02-28
Appendix A
[Additional Information]
Title .................................... The Village
Production Year .......................... 2004
Runtime .................................. 108 min
Director ................................. M. Night Shyamalan
Cast
Bryce Dallas Howard ..................... Ivy Walker
Joaquin Phoenix ......................... Lucius Hunt
Adrien Brody ............................ Noah Percy
William Hurt ............................ Edward Walker
Sigourney Weaver ........................ Alice Hunt
Brendan Gleeson ......................... August Nicholson
|
