Disturbing Film! Stylish and Thoughtful Cinematography!

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2005)

M. Night Shyamalan is one of our most creative and singular directors, recalling the styles of many of the European film auteurs. In "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," there were fascinating locales within the urban confines of Philadelphia. In "The Sign" and "The Village," the uniquely sinister mood is evoked in rural Pennsylvania.
In "The Village," Shyamalan develops a story around the daily life of a strict communevirtually a cultliving in a small community in rural Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. It is a hothouse environment with people held together with a bond of fear due to the mysterious appearances of supernatural creatures. The casting of the film was outstanding with Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver as major figures within the community. Above all, it is the performance of Bryce Dallas Howard who delivers the emotional impact of the drama as a young blind woman named Ivy, who is forced to make an arduous journey for essential medicines for her fiancé. The mysteries and indeed the secrets of the community unfold along with Ivy's odyssey.
In the undercurrent of violence which ran through the film, "The Village" recalls the famous and disturbing 1955 novel of William Golding, "The Lord of the Flies." In Golding's story, a group of boys isolated on an island discover the hidden, violent impulses lurking from within when forced to function on their own in a community. In the rural Pennsylvania of "The Village," the story of commune is nearly identical to the world of "The Lord of the Flies." The so-called elders of the community seek to promote a peaceful existence. But like a self-fulfilling prophecy, the violence will emerge and potentially tear the village asunder.