Oh, and it's a horror/thriller, too!

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 1999)

This summer cinematic season has been so dismal that I was about to swear off all further moviegoing; but when a very thoughtful and erudite friend mentioned having attended The Sixth Sense and liking it, I resolved to give it a try.
Not usually going out of my way to see horror movies, I went expecting a thoughtful and erudite film, and it DELIVERED. What is so remarkable about it is not the horror, but the tenderness and compassion permeating it. I didn't know what to expect. Yes, it was scary, but for me the chills were nothing compared to the tears.
Haley Osmend's acting, as others have said, is so wonderful that you forget it's acting. He is a terrified, troubled, miserable child. But he is more. He is also intelligent, loving, and empathic. Supposed to be the patient, sometimes, despite his horrible burdens, he becomes the therapist.

The scene took my breath away when, after Willis has abandoned Cole with regret all around, confessing that he can't be the boy's doctor anymore because he has too many problems of his own, they meet later in the church where Cole hangs out for sanctuary, terrified of being anywhere else. His toy soldiers are lined up on the balcony rail. There is a hard edge in the boy's voice as he taunts the man who had deserted him: which of these trinkets do you want to play, or play with, today? Then suddenly he looks more closely at Willis's manner, and his own changes to concern for him: "Something's happened to you, hasn't it?" Such dimensions of sensitivity save both of the characters in the story, and propel their film beyond horror to greatness.
I did not find the ending as surprising as some did, but it was very satisfying. If the opening scene had been in a library, panning in on a newspaper and then on a story recounting the award given to the good doctor, or an article written by him, an even more intriguing level of Jamesian conundrum might have been evoked.
But I still don't get the bit about the wine cellar which he could never unlock. Anyone who understands this is invited to e-mail me with an explanation. As the guy said in "Back to the Future," my density has brought us together.
Maybe a second viewing will clarify. I'm definitely going back.
It's worth seeing again. Do not culturally deprive yourself. Go!