M. Night's second-best movie

Rating: Null/10 (8 August 2004)

I've heard so many bad things about this flick that I finally had to go see it for myself. It was worth it.
I'd warn you about potential spoilers below, but then again, if you don't want your movies spoiled, then you shouldn't be reading IMDb reviews before you see something. :)
The Village is a socially relevant film on a global level, with points that have obviously been sadly missed by the folks who are too busy trying to outsmart its maker.
Think of The Village as a metaphor for America. It's a microcosm of our own country. Its leaders, or elders, came from the grim realities of the world with sincere hopes of building a new society from scratch, cleaning their grimy slate for the future of their children, and leaving their evil world behind. In order to do this, the leaders, or elders, are faced with a fundamental challenge: to keep the the truth of the real world a secret from their people. To handle this challenge, the leaders use the power of control through fear and brainwashing in order to keep their new generation of children within the physical boundaries of this newly manufactured "perfect" society. Once the villagers are psychologically bound to their existence, the leaders have an almost complete control over what they see, hear, and think. The leaders instill a fundamental belief in their people that "those we don't speak of", or "the creatures" outside the boundaries of the village, are inherently evil and are proactively out to harm the village. The leaders fabricate and implement psychological mechanisms of control (monster suits, myths of the color red, etc.) in order to exploit the natural fear of the unknown into their people, who, not surprisingly, happily accept this illusion and don't question it. It is clear that the leaders are succeeding: our boy with the golden cloak is literally nauseated from a fear of something that isn't there. However, the plan is also arguably backfiring: the mentally unstable guy has ironically taken the tools of control (costume; weapons) and used them to create his own personal brand of terrorism inspired by his own passionate fervor. Sound familiar, my fellow Americans?
Nice job, Night. Some of us get it.
Ignore the ignorant.