How the breeze stirs the trees....

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2004)

"They can smell you
You may run from sorrow as we have.
Sorrow will find you.
It can smell you."
(Below take contains spoilers and readers are advised to skip it before watching the movie)
If I'm to be geeky about it, The Village (which interestingly, has an idiot), is like a Dogville crossed with The Weather Underground. Its also spirited by the poignancy of Since Otar Left and the emotional abandonment of Magnolia. Bursting at the seams with Tarkovsky's aesthetics, the camera throughout assuredly pans and glides. It played on and danced on the wonders of lights. Particularly orgasmic to note, is the placement of people in most interior shots (the last scene comes to mind). Treating the actors like part of the art direction, these `organic props' helped immeasurably in articulating the symbolic gist of any scene with uncanny power.

In addition, there is a telling similarity between the character Lucius and Mr M Night - both exhibited quiet strength and admirable fearlessness. For under the hawk eyes of fanboys, he dared weave into the movie, a most familiar Hitchcockian device  one that's reminiscent of `Psycho'. No, its not the plot twists in the end. It's the shifting of our focus from one obvious protagonist to another, midway through the film.

In so doing, M Night not only risked losing his audience, he managed a casting coup. He discovered and ambitiously set loose, a brilliant actress of equal parts translucent beauty and awe-inspiring emotional range. The sheer intensity of her presence burns up the screen. This character, Ivy Elizabeth Walker, exudes such Herzogian hallmarks like tenacity, passion, vulnerability and intuition, she singularly transcended The Village's Matrix-like illogic and its arguable plotting grumbles. Bryce Dallas Howard  watch out for this name. For from forth the loins of her ugly father (Ron), a star is born. I so love her right now. Love her!!!!!!

I am trying to make sense of the critical carpet bombings so far. And I can only conclude that The Village may have indeed spit `critical' conventions in the face. Hidden beneathe its Hollywood trappings, I do opine that The Village embraced the elemental purity of love, hope and human desires. It also explored such grand issues as the nature of our humanity, the impact of societal conditioning and the shifting definition of evil and/or insanity.

Depending on the sides we take in the the film taste spectrum, I presume my aforesaid pontifications may have already caused some massive retchings, approving nods, or neither extremes. But if you ask me, it matters not. What's important is for most to understand (and hopefully respect), that our love or hate for The Village (as do all other films) are made with at least some personal basis.
So who am I kidding? Of all that's been said so far, and the many facets of this movie I may wanna touch on in future, I am first and foremost mesmerized by the power of love between Lucius and Ivy. `Sometimes, we don't do things we want to do, so that others won't know we wanna do them."

Awww...
To the hopelessly romantic, the Village is a masterpiece. It is the most romantic film I have seen in recent memory. And if others cannot or don't wanna deal with that, its fine by me.
"Baby Sleep, gently sleep
Life is long and love is deep
Time will be sweet for thee
All the world to see
Time to look about and know
All the shadows come and go
How the breeze stirs the trees"