Answers to eternal questions

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2006)

"The Sixth Sense" is a powerful movie starring Bruce Willis as a damaged child psychologist attempting to treat a young misfit played by Haley Joel Osment. Willis' Dr. Crowe is certain that Osment's fatherless, tormented Cole is suffering from delusional paranoia and because he has failed a previous patient with similar ills, he is more determined to cure the boy's emotional and psychological hauntings. Crowe has his own internal misgivings for his wife is painfully estranged and appears to ignore his very existence. Cole's mother is unsettled by injuries and events that the child says are caused by ghosts. This film also contains a secret within its finely tailored plot that contributed to its huge mass and critical appeal. When I watch this film , I too get caught up in trying to have its secret revealed to me visually and/or verbally. But the "gimmick" or secret is so exquisitely crafted that its divulgence comes as a complete surprise chiefly because the writing and the acting are wonderfully first rate. The play upon our human vulnerabilities such as death, loneliness, fear and separation glues us to this "ghost" story. Although we may not trust nor agree with Shyamalan's ideas, this film will capture those who see it as a plausible, nonsecular representation of death and the afterlife. Shyamalan's direction is unfrivolous and well-paced. Osment's Oscar-nominated performance is genuinely heart-wrenching. A superb film.