The Village: Persuasive theme, uninspired narrative

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2004)

I watched "The Village" on its opening night. The film is based upon a premise that had been worked in Hollywood some ten years back with a very big star. That film is considered a tour-de-force for the actor who was cast previously in very predictable roles. However, M. Night Shyamalan's approach in addressing the same premise focuses on strengths that he himself possesses - educe fear and then stun the audience. But trudging thru the same formula, in movies prior to "The Village" ("Wide Awake", "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable" and "Signs"), Shyamalan was able to embed in his stories, a content that almost had a mystifying quality. The narration therefore rivalled a spiritual discourse.
In terms of content, "The Village" is by far Shyamalan's most meritorious commentary on people's entreatment of basic human nature. But in presentation Shyamalan's narration for the film fails in elucidating that human nature sympathetically. He is also failed by his actors in key roles.
"The Village" contrary to its advertising hype is a love story. The movie I mentioned earlier that worked on the same premise, never left focus on the innocent love that made the crux of the story and therefore in the end succeeded in the audience rooting for its protagonist. In "The Village", the fear factor only contributes to diverting the attention of the audience, in the process making the young couple in love look quite foolish. Unable to generate sympathy for the romantic lead lends the audience to also be unforgiving towards the holes in the premise of the film itself. The young couple (Joaquin Phoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard) work well, but veteran actor William Hurt in the key role of the village chief appears Shakesparean preachy, when the demand was that he shepherd the film thru its innumerable plot twists. Perhaps the writing itself is to blame for this mis-performance.
There is also an expectation from the audience that a Shyamalan film will bowl you over in the end. That expectation is very hard to live up to when constantly compared with the cardinal "Sixth Sense", where the twist came as a gratuitous topping. Any Shyamalan film is by nature countenanced with a fanciful, varied and incessant postulation of the audience's own. No amount of ingenuity can therefore be satisfying across the board. A lesson perhaps for Mr. Shyamalan to gracefully bow out of the genre of plot twists that he successfully created and enjoyed the audience support for. Given his genius I am sure he is capable of contriving a completely fresh narrative all over again.
To sum up, the content of the "The Village" is M. Night Shyamalan's most persuasive as yet. In its presentation, Mr. Shyamalan crawls back to his successful yet stagnating and increasingly dissatisfactory savoir-faire.
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The presentation of the subject in the similarly themed "The Truman Show" in my opinion was far more compelling.