Village, The
I have been a fan
of M. Night Shyamalan. He has a unique and beautiful vision that comes
to life on screen. Characters rise up out of their own inaction to
become heroes. I wish I could say that The Village impressed me in the
same way his past films have, but I can’t. The Village really isn’t
worth the effort to watch it, and with the dialogue entirely in
old-style English, it really takes an effort to watch it.
The
Village follows the daily life of a group of settlers who have taken up
an Amish-like life in a clearing surrounded by a thick wood. The elders
tell stories about the atrocities of city life, while embellishing the
new life they have built for their children, free from poverty and
crime. The woods surrounding the village are infested with an evil
demon-like beast. The Elders tell stories about how they originally
came to an accord with the monsters; don’t come into our village, and
we won’t enter your woods. The elders build a religion around these
creatures, making sacrifices to them, and honoring them for their
power. After a twist of events, the future of The Village rests in the
hands of a blind girl as she wrestles the demons in the woods.
M.
Night Shyamalan builds a beautiful story in The Village. Unfortunately,
the beauty is limited to a visual stimulus only. Cinematographer Roger
Deakins (House of Sand and Fog, A Beautiful Mind) and Art Directors
Michael Manson (Matchstick Men, One Hour Photo, The Cell) and Chris
Shriver (Men in Black, Carlito’s Way, Malcolm X) team up to bring a
visually stunning work to screen. The camera movements are fluid and,
as with most Shyamalan films, adds to the draw of the film. The
Costumes are impeccable.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t make up
for the major weak point of the film: the plot. Whereas other Shyamalan
films pull you from scene to scene, The Village seems to be stuck on
pause. Many times through the film, I wanted to reach up and find the
remote because the action seemed to just stop, for no reason. Added to
this, the dialogue is difficult to follow at times. Most of the actors
struggle with the timing and accents of the Old-English script.
In
the end, I didn’t care much about the movie, and I was utterly let down
by the clich
