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 ‘Village’ loses its voice A Review By Monique Bos “The Village,” the newest movie from director M. Night Shyamalan (“Signs,” “The Sixth Sense”), promises to be a spooky foray into supernatural evil. Does it deliver? Well, sort of, at least at first. The action unfolds in a rural village set in the midst of the forbidding Covington Woods in the 1890s. The village appears to be wholly self-sufficient, and inhabitants never travel beyond its borders into the forest, because there lurk “those we do not speak of.” These monsters make their presence known through eerie howls and the occasional flayed animal carcass left as a warning. The villagers have an uneasy pact with the creatures, but escalating invasions convince the elders someone is incurring the wrath of “those we do not speak of” by making forays into the forest. Even festive moments are disrupted by the strange, keening calls from the surrounding hillside, and fear of the monsters dictates the villagers’ lives. Guards spend each night in watchtowers on the edge of the woods. Red is “the bad color” — a designation that sounds jarringly simplistic on the lips of adults — and yellow “the safe color.” Thus red in any form — flowers, berries — is forbidden in the village, while yellow flags mark the boundary between clearing and forest. If all this doesn’t sound xenophobic enough, viewers soon learn that many villagers have lost loved ones to the evil people in “the towns” beyond Covington Woods. Hero Lucius Hunt’s (Joaquin Phoenix) father was robbed and murdered on his way to the store. Elder Edward Walker (William Hurt) reveals that his father, a wealthy man, was killed for money. As a result, the elders banded together to create a way of life isolated from these crimes and to preserve their innocence. The payoff, apparently, is that instead of living in fear of other people, they live in fear of “those we do not speak of.” None of Shyamalan’s characters question whether this tradeoff is worth it. Against this sinister backdrop, Hunt emerges as a quietly heroic young man who wants to brave the forests to purchase medicine and other necessary supplies from “the towns.” His widowed mother, Alice (Sigourney Weaver), an elder, discourages his efforts. However, when crime strikes and the innocence of the village is disrupted, it’s not Hunt who leaves but Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), Walker’s blind, sharply perceptive daughter and Hunt’s love interest. Up to this point, the movie sustains a genuinely spooky atmosphere, with hazy shots of the monsters, suspenseful music and a powerful sense of the terror of a woman who cannot see her foes. Shyamalan develops the ominous aspects of Ivy Walker’s journey into the woods skillfully, building to some satisfyingly terrifying moments. However, the two plot twists that then unfold ruin the movie. Coincidence plays far too great a role in the eventual denouement. One scene seems to exist solely for the purpose of filling in background information yet raises new questions and leaves old ones unanswered. In addition, the social commentary is heavy-handed, with a resolution that fails to address issues that motivate the characters. The acting runs the gamut from impressive to depressing, making for uneven scenes and oddly incongruous character interactions. Phoenix’ portrayal of the taciturn Hunt shows deep understanding of a man who often reveals himself through silence rather than speech. As the village idiot, Adrien Brody delivers a maniacally believable performance. Howard is especially magnificent as the complex, brave, whimsical and compassionate Ivy. However, some of the other actors struggle with the stilted, often contrived dialogue. Hurt settles for delivering most of his lines in a weighty, dirgelike monotone, while Weaver seems too preoccupied with correctly enunciating unwieldy phrases to remember to act. The attraction between their characters is not developed and thus is simply a distraction. “The Village” is a perplexing movie, one that conveys the impression that its director didn’t know quite where he wanted it to go, or else that he tried to impose on it one form when it wanted to be something else. Given audience reactions thus far, the result leaves viewers feeling ambivalent, disappointed and betrayed. |
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