Two Warring Cultures

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2002)

Spoilers herein.
We have our new Speilberg, and that's a very bad thing indeed.

Like Speilberg, this guy knows how to engage us with more or less competent filmschool pacing and supporting imagery. Both shameless exploit children as part of creating a world of simple, Hallmark values. Both mix very subtle craft with blunt, obvious, repeated moralistic messages. At the end, both make you wonder why you watched their film. Was it just to take up that small time?
But a clever viewer can see something else going on. In the film world, there are two communities from different worlds. One community is steeped in corn and seeks to only amuse. They don't understand the other community at all, those who seek to enlighten, transport, explore. These `aliens' sometimes raid the cornballs' talent pool. Mel even was tempted and tried to play Hamlet before discovering his true faith. Very clever of Shyamalan to place himself in the film as the unknowing connection between these two worlds. He is able to empower -- quite by accident -- some `signs,' visual power from the artist-aliens. He is even able to capture one and instinctively knows what they don't like: watered down stuff. Then he runs away.
Not all of this is a joke. Note how Shyamalan uses the TeeVee to display images of the aliens, all the way until the end when the image of the intruder is reflected in the TeeVee screen.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.