Elegantly understated

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2004)

I appreciate very much the depths to which Shyamalan goes in his writing and directing. He has the good sense to not simply make a genre movie, but to make a movie about something in particular, and wrap it up in a certain genre, almost as a tool through which the audience can better see the characters. We are often too wrapped up in our own way of life to see other people like us objectively. So, he uses a plot device to help us to 'see' better. And in yet another movie, it works.
The guise in The Village is that it is a horror/thriller that pits the members of a small town up against the mythical and horrific creatures of the woods. Unfortunately, far too many scripts stop at this point. Shyamalan goes further, and this seems to be the point at which most people tune out, which is a shame, because it is here that the movie gains its better qualities.
The film is really about love and facing our fears. And deep down, it is simply a love story. There are many elements that represent our fears, both metaphorically and realistically. There are the literals, with the monsters in the woods, but also the larger metaphorical focus of the the reclusive nature of the village in response to the corrupt and fallen outside world. And it is an interesting foray into our fears and how we deal with them.
All of this is thrown into high contrast by the character Ivy having to face the fears she has been grown up to have to save Lucius. While she is told that the monsters are not real, she is nonetheless forced to deal with one of them. And it is handled in a very classic way. There are the woods, and the rain, and the dark (e.g. "it was a dark and stormy night!") and she was abandoned by the two other boys. She is alone in the woods, a common literal fear and metaphorical projection for us all.
The great theme in the movie however is not that she faced her fears on principle alone, but for the love of another. This element takes an average horror movie and interesting commentary on fear and turns it into a genuinely touching love story.
Perhaps I am naive in seeing this, or lack the cynicism of other movie goers, but I very much appreciated Shyamalan's style of telling a 'tale' and all it represents.