For The Benefit Of The Korowai And The Munduruku

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2009)

Regarding the famous twist ending of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" (1999), I will try to be coy here for the benefit of those who have just come out of a decadelong coma, and for those Korowai tribesmen of New Guinea and the Munduruku dwellers on the Amazon who may be unaware of it, but who may be reading this posting on their BlackBerrys (and in today's modern world, who knows?!?). For all first-timers (like me) who see the film fully aware of the picture's startling denouement, the question must be "Can one still enjoy it with such a movie-spoiling foreknowledge?" Well, as anyone who has ever seen "The Sixth Sense" more than once knows (and I can't imagine anyone seeing this film for the first time who would NOT want to watch it again immediately!), the answer is a resounding "yes." In it, Bruce Willis plays Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist in Philly who attempts to help 9-year-old Cole Sear. Cole's problem, as he famously puts it, is that he sees "dead people." Anyway, the always likable Willis gives a nicely restrained performance here and, as "DVD Delirium" puts it, "manages to keep his trademark smirk hidden." And young Haley Joel Osment is superb as the troubled Cole, effectively communicating, with his whispered delivery, the fear that is his daily bread. The film is a quiet and understated affair, building suspense and scares through a gradual accretion of detail. It has been expertly lensed by master cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, and Shyamalan's direction is quite ingenious in the way it skips around the edges of the film's big twist while still playing the game fairly. By that famous ending, young Cole seems set to beat Jennifer Love to the punch as a "ghost whisperer," while Malcolm comes to see himself for what he truly is. It's some brilliant stuff, and I for one wouldn't even mind a belated, latter-day sequel....