Pure Genius!... Nobody Likes That I Guess

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2005)

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS** The Village is not unlike many other post-millennial films which serve as reflexive cultural statements on top of being brilliant films. As a result it also consequently, and regrettably, alienates a large portion of viewers who simply don't get it. It's usually because they either lack the life experience, analytical skills, appreciation of art and the interplay between images and music, or simply possess an IQ comparable to lower order primates. They also likely haven't seen any of Night's other work, for if they had, they would know that what you see is never what you get with his films, and that we should never expect anything as banal as a simple horror film in the traditional sense from him. I believe that part of the problem in the way this film was, and still is, received, may have had to do with the fact that it was marketed as such, when in reality this film is both a period piece and a character piece. Yes, at times it is suspenseful, but it is primarily an allegory about our own society, and not just "the village" per se. People often decry the film as far fetched when the real time period is revealed, but is it really? Humans are born as blank slates and we know only what we learn. We lack the natural instincts of many animals and in turn engineer the architecture of the "natural" world and impose it on ourselves. We are a self domesticated and controlled species and if you don't think that the various institutions which control our lives have us believing in 100 or more varieties of "those we don't speak of" think again. There is indeed a forest beyond the perimeter of the little society in which we live, and which we are more or less forbidden from venturing into. Public schooling, organized religion, and a commodity driven economy all sustain themselves on it. The Village makes this observation in a more subtle way, however, and the villagers themselves all serve to represent anthropomorphized versions of the day dreams all of us have from time to time about a proverbial "escape" to a simpler life. The film taps into that natural human desire, however irrational it may be, and demonstrates that even in such a utopia, people still need to fear and believe in things untrue in order to maintain cohesion. Notwithstanding its cerebral underpinnings, the film contains beautiful images and music and terrific performances by mostly learned stage actors. It is a powerful film at both the aesthetic and psychological levels, and I applaud Night for not selling out to the lowest common denominator and for continuing to make films which defy trends and keep on challenging us. For those who didn't like it because it lacked cool 'splosions, I would suggest wading into the commentary thread for something like 2 Fast 2 Furious. In the meantime, keep your vapid and infantile comments about this film, one you apparently don't understand, to yourselves.