One of my guilty pleasures is reading movie reviews of films I've already watched and writing my own that identify what I think is most important about the movie the others left out. I watched The Village last year because of Tuomas Holopainen and was upset to see that none of the reviews captured the essence of the film, so I think it's only right that I post my thoughts on one of the best movies I've ever seen.
The world can be a very dark place sometimes. Loved ones are mugged, raped, murdered, and lost to us forever. But what if we created a place where none of that existed? That is the theme of M. Night Shyalaman's 2004 film The Village. A group of scared, lonely adults and their children are gathered together by a history professor, Edward Walker (William Hurt), who proposes that they create a village deep in the forest where they can escape the evils of "the town." Five to six families settle the village and raise a new generation, all around the same age, within its Puritan-influenced landscape. The children learn to fear "the town" because the elders tell elaborate stories about the creatures that inhabit the woods between the village and the rest of the world. On occasion they dress up like those creatures to ensure their legends are taken seriously.
All that ends when a child is murdered. The elders blame it on the creatures, but they know otherwise. Then small animals start being killed in the night. The tranquility of the village is ruined. Meanwhile, the younger generation finds consolation in blooming romance, particularly between Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) and Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard).
It is very interesting to see modern age meets Puritan village, despite the fact that the elders wanted to escape anything modern. Children with deformities were looked down upon and locked up for thousands of years; only recently have their treatment been humane. Yet a mentally retarded man, played by Adrian Brody, and blind Ivy are treated with as much respect and love as their companions. Lucius, in fact, chooses to marry Ivy instead of her beautiful, normal older sister.
The Village's true appeal is in its music. Nightwish composer Tuomas Holopainen said it has the most beautiful film soundtrack he's ever heard, and is justified. It's some of the most hauntingly gorgeous and suspense-filled music I've ever heard, so much that composer James Newton Howard won his fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score from it.
M. Night Shyamalan also proved his sometimes doubted directing abilities. The film literally has you sitting on the edge of your seat in parts, especially when the creatures go through the village breaking into homes and leaving scars on the doors while the entire cast flees to the cellars. The camera angles, music, and acting all contribute to those being some of the scariest scenes ever produced in cinema. Even after you realize that the creatures are nothing more than a farce put on by the village elders they still haunt your dreams.
In the end Ivy is told the truth about the creatures and the elders are forced to look back at their past, which were kept symbolically hidden in locked strongboxes. The village realizes that no one can run from evil in the world; human nature is flawed, so evil will follow you wherever you go.
Listening to: "In Joy and Sorrow" by HIM
Reading: Still going through the writing book
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