Must see... discussion on themes here.

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2000)

If you haven't seen this movie then don't read too far here *** SPOILERS *** except that you should go to see it. Don't pay too much attention to people who say it was bad because those are people who are not capable of appreciating a movie that is both good and original in this day and age.
There are a number of things in common between this movie and the Sixth sense but it has more to do with the underlying types of things that appear than with the plot. You need to see this movie more than once to appreciate some of its parts. (If you haven't seen the movie yet stop reading.)
A lot of the words spoken by Elijah Price in the movie have added significance when you see the movie the second time. Things like "this city's had its share of disasters..." and "I've watched reports of disasters waiting for once particular line..."... but there is more to the movie than realizing the significance of things like this. First of all, if you know some things about the sixth sense you may be aware that the colour red is used in that movie to signify connection to the "spiritual" world. The church door is bright red, the doorknob to the basement is bright red, the "blanket roof" in the kid's room is bright red, there are many instances of this.
In "Unbreakable" there are things like: Scenes involving Elijah Price which occur in the past are filmed in GLASS (the initial scene is through a mirror and the scene with him as a young boy is a reflection in a TV screen.) Also, there are connections between David Dunn and "Water", and him realizing what his place is. There are an unusual number of scenes in the movie which are raining. In the football stadium, and when David Dunn is examining the train wreck in the warehouse, and when he follows the murderer later in the movie. There is also a reference to water in the first scene when David Dunn and Elijah Price are meeting (David Dunn tells his son not to drink any more of the water and asks him to throw it out.) Also in David's flashback to college and the car crash, it was raining in the flashback also. So when there are significant things occurring in this movie it seems that it is often raining. also, Elijah Price seems to be wearing the colour purple a lot. I'm not sure exactly what that means but it means something. Some other comments: - When David Dunn meets the woman on the train in the first scene, they shake hands. Does he "see" anything by touching her? (No indications seem to be given about this).
Also, the scene where David Dunn is trying to catch a drug dealer in the stadium (who is incidentally played by the film's director), It seems that David "sees" the dealer put something in his pocket, but doesn't catch him during the search. Why is this? is there any connection between David Dunn's failure to catch the drug dealer and his learning that his son was hurt (which happens immediately after)? David Dunn seemed to forget the time he spent a week in hospital after nearly drowning. Why was he not able to remember this fact earlier in the movie (Most people would remember something like that)?
Why does Elijah Price deliberately knock over the comics in the store when the dealer is trying to wheel him out? is he trying to mess them up so that the dealer will confuse the price and sell him a valuable comic for a low price, or is it something else? In the scene in the crowded station where David discovers the identity of the murderer, he enters the door called "maintenance" and later leaves. The camera seems to focus on the fact that there is a word "maintenance" on that door. if so, why? At the very end of the movie, in one of the disaster clippings on Elijah Price's wall I think there is a newspaper headline of an explosion where only a young child survives. Is there any significance to this?
What I haven't noticed muuch in the other comments is that this movie bears a striking similarity in one particular respect to "The Green Mile" with Tom Hanks - in that a character has the same type of ability to see the past crime of someone who they physically contact. did this idea arise independently in both movies (i.e. coincidence) or is there some connection here?
In the scene when David is eating cereal for breakfast after the trainwreck, he is apparently agitated and is banging his spoon lightly on the bowl. any significance to that? Does he have a problem consuming milk (since it is mostly water?) In the scene after the train wreck when David's son and wife come to see him, the son gets them to hold hands, but they let go once his back is turned. Maybe this is just to indicate that they are not close, but it may have added meaning with the knowledge that David can see past wrong doings of people he contacts. Maybe that's why he tries to be distant from his family, because He is afraid to see in his family what he sees in others.
There are probably several more hidden elements of the movie as well.
The main connection between this movie and the sixth sense in terms of "emotional highpoint" (though not movie climax) is the use of "supernatural" power to expose hidden evil acts of everyday, normal people.