A beautiful movie, advertised as a horror and subsequently underrated

Rating: 9/10 (10 September 2004)

The Village is a good movie, and unfortunately many people went to see it expecting a horror and wanting hard to get scared. The idea was interesting, it was beautifully filmed, and the actors had an excellent performance. What more? It's maybe not a major movie, but a pretty good one.
SPOILER A wave of disappointment over the lack of abundantly salivating aliens, or mythical monsters, or unnamed ghosts that should populate the woods around the village provoked an unleashed flow of testosterone and aggressivity over the movie and the ones who happened to like it. It's incredible one can read on the front page commentaries full of advices - "go see a doctor" and alike.
Well, this is the power of prejudice, and intelligent people should have the power to get over it and appreciate this movie for what it is. Another disappointment was : "I got the plot from the beginning" and the unexpected conclusion - "the movie was stupid". Aren't we a bit underestimating ourselves in this case? Foreseeing the twists could mean - maybe, just maybe, that WE are not stupid. Not foreseeing meaning absolutely nothing. A regrettable lack of tolerance and flexibility...
What these furious and negative little comments seem to forget is the message - yes, some movies have ideas and messages - others have the scare between two mouthfuls of popcorn.
What i understood was : one cannot make a perfect society. That no matter how one protects it from outside - finally the evil will come from within. What was maybe a flaw (and probably not the only one) was who and what the 'evil' was.
No, I will not seek doctor advice because some scenes frightened me. Instead, i am quite happy that against my expectations, i could appreciate this movie for what it is NOT.