As Creative As Horrors Come

Rating: 9/10 (29 May 2000)

This movie was genuinely scary, unnerving, and disturbing. Yet the scariness of the movie certainly does not come out of mindless gore or unrealistic monsters. It comes out of sheer, basic, suspense, the likes of which I may have never seen since Psycho, more than Silence of the Lambs and Seven.
Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a nice man,a devoted husband and psychiatrist. So good is he at his work, he receives a plaque from the mayor commending him. However, his joy that night is brief, as his celebration with his wife is cut short by an unexpected blast from the past--a patient of Malcolm's that he couldn't help (Donnie Wahlberg in a short but memorable cameo). He tells Malcolm that he didn't help him, and he has still been miserable for the last 10 years because no one could pinpoint why he was so upset. He then pulls out a gun, shoots Malcolm in the gut, then blows his own brains out. Flash forward to 2 months later: Malcolm is standing near the house of young Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) and his mother (Toni Colette). Cole has become a patient of his, and after reviewing Cole's case, Malcolm realizes that he and the man who shot him have a lot in common, and Malcolm sort of sees this as his shot at redemption for failing his other patient. The two meet and strike an instant rapport. But Cole is depressed, and always seems to look sad. His single mother is constantly stressed, trying to juggle two jobs and be a mother and father to Cole. She can not reach Cole herself, cannot understand why he is always so frightened. Eventually after Malcolm earns the trust of Cole, Cole tells him his secret: "I See Dead People." Cole explains to Malcolm that he constantly sees dead people walking around, not knowing that they are dead, and not seeing each other. Only Cole can see these people. At first Malcolm tries not to believe Cole, but after listening to a tape of one of his sessions with the man who shot him, he realizes Cole is telling the truth. The two have their individual problems, though. Malcolm and his wife haven't talked in months, they are now completely estranged from one another, and she seems to have found a new beau. Cole's mother wonders why her grandmothers pendant keeps getting moved, and gets furious when Cole denies taking it. The story goes on like this, telling about how Malcolm and Cole try to help each other This intelligent film is about 3 completely heart-wrenching relationships. Malcolm's relationship with his wife, Cole's relationship with his mother, and Malcolm and Cole's relationship with each other. All three are introduced to the story at the beginning, and at the end, all three are neatly and beautifully concluded. Possibly the most moving scene of the movie is when Cole comes home from school. He asks his mom how her difficult day was. She says: "Well, I won the lottery this morning, I quit all my jobs, I picnicked in the park, and then swam in the fountain all afternoon." She then asks Cole how his day went at his school (where everyone views him as a freak and an outcast). He answers: "Well, I was picked first for dodgeball, I hit a game-winning grand slam, and everyone carried me off on their shoulders." It shows how the only escape from their two difficult, miserable lives, is each other. The two most memorable things about this movie are Haley Joel Osment, who is nothing short of a revelation as Cole and who unjustly lost the academy award for Best Supporting Actor to the simple acting of Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules, and the ending, which clearly borrows a little something from The Usual Suspects. The rest of the cast is uniformly good, especially Toni Colette as Cole's mother. Bruce Willis does an admirable job as Malcolm, a very different character than he has played in his traditional movies. The writing and direction is some of the best you will ever see. M. Night Shyamalan has loaded the Sixth Sense with symbolism, foreshadowing, and clues to the big finish. He had the bad luck as coming out the same year as American Beauty, which was only a little better written , but much better directed. The Sixth Sense was nominated for 6 oscars: Best Picture, Supporting Actor Haley Joel Osment, Supporting Actress Toni Colette, Director Shyamalan, Writer Shyamalan, and Editing. It lost them all, unfortunately.