“Expectation” is a considered as the most dangerous word in cinema these days. Normally, human mind is prone to prejudices. When a movie has refreshing plot and execution which comes from a new director, the praise the movie a lot but the next time they expect the same kind of movie from him. If he doesn’t give movie of kind what they expected then the movie will definitely flop. And also if the movie has same stuff as his previous one, they will trash it saying the same movie has been rehashed. This is biggest challenge for any director, to meet the expectation of the audience and also should deviate from his path to prove his versatility.
That is why many of Indian directors failed to make it big even though they come up with something different. The best example is “Yuva” from Maniratnam, bollywood was expecting something and he gave something else, though the movie has a different screenplay and good plot it falied to impress because of this word “Expectation”. In south the same thing happened to the movie “Boys” directed by Shankar. Though the movie had everything to covince the youth they rejected saying that the movie had too much of vulgarity in visuals, which even the youth can’t digest and the final word everything said, is “We didn’t expect this from Shankar”. They would have accepted these two films if it were directed by some other new directors. They would have appreciated them a lot for coming up with such a great movie.
And the same is the situation in Hollywood; M.Night Shyamalan is the victim of this disease now. The movie “The village” will fail to impress you if you expect another “Sixth Sense” from him.
I am not going to narrate the story as many as many of them have done it before.
I admire why people didn’t like this movie. I felt the movie is too good though not as great as Sixth Sense. I didn’t like “Signs” I didn’t know why, something was lacking in that film. Don’t go to the theatre with Sixth Sense in your mind. Go with an open mind and I assure you that you will extremely like the film. The film is not an out and out horror or thriller (though there are thrilling moments), it is a romantic movie, which again proves the Power of Love with a village under threat and fear as the background.
Shyamalan has given a different thriller this time. He is known for his subtlety and he proves it yet again in this film. There are two twists in the film. The twist wasn’t disappointing for me and doesn’t make me fool. A fitting climax for the chosen plot; what better climax one can suggest for this movie. The way he has picturised the main murder is worth mentioning. Also the blind girl killing the monster in the forest is well-executed episode in the movie. Definitely every one will jerk a moment when the monster arrives for the first time. The movie arises so many quations in our mind and all are answered in the climax.
The movie is not about the monsters, not about the village, not about the secret behind frequently uttered “Those who Don’t Speak of”, not about myths and prejudices, it is about the power of love which drives a soul of a blind girl to struggle and fight with all the obstacles by the not’s mentioned above to save her sweet heart. It also the leaves a social message how money have ruined the society and why the villagers are protected from going into the city and I interpret ’’The real monsters are money’’ what these villagers are unconsciously afraid of.
I was very much impressed by the performance of Bryas Dallas Howard who played a courageous, brave and a loving blind girl Ivy. She steals the show with her brilliant performance, she sparkles in the scenes where she shivers with fear, freezes on shock and moves on in woods with courage. Next to her is the performance of Adrien Brody as Noah, the only Idiot in the village. Especially he is brilliant in the scene where he cries after killing??? (Suspense). And finally comes Joaquin Phoenix as Lucius Hunt by and for whom the story proceeds further. He does his job well but he hasn’t got enough screen presence. Others are also okay enough to enhance the believability of the viewer.
The movie is technically appealing. The background score is excellent. Especially the complex violin orchestration in some scenes sounds well the confusions and reveals the complexities in the visuals. The cinematography by Roger Deakins is good. He has very well captured the hidden secrets of the forest in different angles and visual of the mystic village cools our eyes. Design of the village by Tom Foden is authentic. Editing by Christopher Tellefsen gives a fitting tempo to the screenplay. A must watch though initially you may feel it boring. Overall a movie worth watching atleast once for something delivered which we didn’t expect from Shyamalan.