A moving love story starring the incredible Bryce Dallas Howard

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2005)

First of all, let me tel you I'm a believer when it comes to 'the Shyamalan-concept', a mix of weird, surreal, almost illogical plot elements, shown in such a way that the viewer is constantly mislead. Only by the end of the film, the viewer experiences some sort of 'katharsis', by means of a spectacular surprising plot twist. Within a few minutes, a secret story-element is revealed, and the viewer sees the story he has just witnessed in a whole new (logical) light. This trademark of M. Night Shyamalan made me view his masterpieces "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" (which strangely has got a lot of negative reviews) over and over again.
The main question is now, how does "the Village" incorporate this specific concept, and how well does it work in the movie? When I first had seen the movie, I couldn't help but feel that Shyamalan was 'reluctantly' giving the critics and the audience what it craved for, namely a huge, surprising plot element which would blow the viewers away at the end of the movie. Why reluctantly? Because, to my humble opinion, the 'Shyamalan-concept' is totally superfluous within the story of "The Village". And this story is, above all, a love story. It's about two young people in an isolated, gloomy, 19th century village trying to connect emotionally and spiritually with each other.
Shyamalan did not deliver what I expected. He delivered far beyond my expectations. Instead of rattling off the same old thriller he's famous for, he comes up with a moving, picturesque film backed up by an incredible cast. Surprisingly imposing is dÃ©butante Bryce Dallas Howard (the charming daughter of director Ron Howard) who plays Ivy. She easily holds ground among all those great actors (Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody). The charming serenity and honesty by which she portrays her character Ivy, reveals a great talent. Every single scene she's in stunned me. The DVD even got an extra feature called 'Bryce's diary', and even there she left me in awe. She's a really, really promising actress, I can't stress that enough. Her performance is simply radiant and carries the whole movie. And herein lies the strength of "The Village": a simple, touching love story, performed in an inspired manner by a wonderful group of actors. And the 'Shyamalan-concept'? It's there, but there's plenty more to look for in "The Village".