epiphany

Visiting the Village

Several weeks ago on the way out of Spiderman 2, I told my brother-in-law that the only movie left this summer that I really wanted to see was Shyamalan's The Village. When he asked what it was about, I paused a moment and then simply said, "Fear."

I was wrong.

The Village is not simply about fear. It is about sorrow, isolation and the resulting choices and fears needed to ward off the one and maintain the other. Like all of Shyamalan's films, The Village moves slowly, but like all good films, the audience is surprised at how quickly the time has passed when the movie has ended. The language and dialog are often stiff, but that is not because of stiff acting. The actors are excellent. The slow akwardness of the speaking echoes and enhances the trapped emotions and archaic culture of the characters.

I read one review that claimed The Village is more anti-Bush than Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911. I suppose one could read that into the film, but I think rather that the reviewer was reflecting his or her own feelings rather than reading those of the movie. The Village is deeply reflective and as such brings to light the way that fear has molded each of our lives. For that other reviewer, fear and isolation are a political cause or situation. For my part, I read much of my religious past in the movie. A shocking amount, truthfully. But rather than provoke to anger, as many films or stories may do, The Village causes me to think. What can I do? How can I change things? What is being done to promote or lessen needless fear?

Sorrow leads to isolation. Isolation is best maintained through fear. Fear is a consuming evil.

What are you afraid of?