Sixth Sense is a creative masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2019)

The Sixth Sense is a drama/mystery thriller film about a child psychologist who is trying to help a young boy who sees dead people and is constantly being tortured about it. Bruce Willis plays Dr. Malcom and Haley Joel Osment plays Cole Sear, the troubled boy in the film. This film is directed by Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan. Dr. Malcolm feels the need to help Cole because he feels like he needs to make amends more a wrong that he made earlier in his life. He thinks that if he is able to help Cole overcome his issues then, he will feel better about a past patient that he had failed.
The theme of this film is about regret, pain, and loss. Throughout the movie there are several instances where these theme elements are showcased. When Cole's mother is asking Cole where her family heirloom is that her mother gave to her, Cole wouldn't tell her the actual likely cause of how it got into his room, but he just insists that he didn't take it. This scene really shows how much her mother meant to her. Also, near the end of the movie when Cole tells his mother that the woman died in the accident and then he finally confesses to her that he can see dead people and they talk to him and he does things for them, he tells her how his grandmother wanted her to know that she is proud of her and that she loves her. During this scene, we learn just how much regret that the mother felt because they weren't on good terms when she died. When we find out that Dr. Malcom was dead the whole time, we also realize the loss the regret that his wife feels when she asked him why he left her. This film's theme is similar to that of Shutter Island because of how the characters deal with the inner conflict of fear.
Two techniques that were used to really support the theme was lighting and angles. The scene when Cole finally tells Dr. Malcolm that he sees dead people is very significant because immediately afterwards the camera cuts to Malcolm's face and it slows zooms in on his face. When you're watching it for the first time, chances are that you missed it, but this camera angle is brilliant because it's the director's way of telling us the Malcolm is dead. Another technique that was crucial to the film was the lighting or use of certain colors. In the movie, the director was very careful about how he used the color red. The color red was used to show anything that the dead people had impacted in the film. Some examples of this was Cole's red shirt, the red doorknob, the red jacket on the mother who was keeping her daughter sick, the red stairs, and the red balloon.
This movie was beautifully directed and the attention to detail was just spot on. Unlike many horror films nowadays, this movie was true horror and focused on things that can truly terrify us.