Some questions...

Rating: Null/10 (7 February 2005)

THE VILLAGE is well shot and has the kind of tone that one would expect from this director.
As with SIGNS, however, after the film has finished you begin to find flaws and unanswered questions coming to mind...
*SPOILERS!*
The scenario to this film is that a group of intellectuals have decided to create a Utopian, seemingly ancient village that is cut-off from the modern world. To stop villagers leaving they have created a legend that claims scary creatures lurk in the surrounding woods.
Okay, here are the questions that came to mind as I ejected the DVD from my player...
1) Why do the elders (who're the only ones who know the truth) need to speak/act/dress like they're from the past? Surely a Utopian village with modern language but no modern appliances/peaceful atmosphere would suffice - after all, the youngsters born in the village would simply assume that this is how the world should be.
2) The elders know about modern medicines. Why don't they keep a cache hidden away in case of deadly illnesses/accidents?
3) Why did Noah dress up as the creature when he stalked Ivy in the woods? She's blind! He could dress up like a clown and she'd be none the wiser!
4) Towards the end of the film it's explained (in an expository conversation) that someone with power has redirected planes away from the skies above the village. WHY? All the elders had to do was add scary 'flying-things-that-cannot-be-named' into their legends and the younger villagers would buy it... but, of course, we viewers would then know what the twist is going to be (I guessed it anyhow.)
5) Why don't the elders simply come up with a legend about the 'mysterious-energy-that- comes-through-wires-that-cannot-be-named'? They'd be able to have electric lights then and, you guessed it, the younger villagers would be none the wiser.
6) Are we meant to believe that NOBODY EVER trespassed into those woods? In all these years?
There you go.