Film Review

The Village

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Howard (2004)
Writer and director: M. Night Shyamalan
Distributor: Buena Vista

Review by Jenni van Wageningen

A small village in 19th century America is the hub of an apparently idyllic farming community. It is cut off from all contact with larger towns by a forbidding forest inhabited by mysterious and dangerous creatures. In order to protect themselves from possible raids the villagers have defined the border with watchtowers and flags. They also avoid the colour red which they believe attracts the creatures prowling in the forest. Most of the villagers, it seems, are content enough to live in this carefully regulated situation. In spite of the utopian appearance of the community, it is plain that fear lurks just beneath the surface of their simple lives.

The older people who govern as elders have mysteriously shrouded pasts they never discuss. All have locked chests in their houses and their now grown-up children have never seen the contents. Ivy is a feisty young woman who is blind yet seems to have some kind of second sight; Lucius is intense and reserved; while Noah suffers from a mental instability which eventually has tragic consequences.

When grotesquely skinned animals are found and warning red Passover-like slashes appear on doors, the tension begins to mount in what is so far a rather slow-moving film. It is clear that the creatures – we catch a few glimpses of them shrouded in long red cloaks– are no longer content to remain in their forest.
In a sudden turn of events, Noah tries to kill Lucius. Desperate to save the life of the man she loves Ivy decides to set off on a journey through the bleak and forbidding forest to the towns in order to fetch medicines. And at this point I cannot divulge more of the plot without giving away the whole story!

Many themes and metaphors are woven through this unusual and compelling movie.
 

Ivy’s love for Lucius is deeply selfless. Her willingness to risk her life to save him has echoes of Christ’s sacrificial love for us.

A related theme concerns facing fears, even those that are difficult to acknowledge. The villagers prefer to avoid all mention of the creatures and later we discover they have opted for total avoidance of their real fears. Christians too can remain so burdened by anxieties that we lose all joy in living out our faith.

The villagers have isolated themselves from the rest of society in order to protect their chosen lifestyle with its simple personal, family and community values. Yet by so doing they now find it difficult to call on the help they need. Christians can face a similar dilemma in trying to avoid being tainted by the world. If we separate ourselves into enclaves, we cannot offer assistance to our hurting neighbour. Nor can we work at transforming society from the inside.

We also cannot justify the exertion of total control over our own lives or the lives of others, even if it is with the best of motives. Eventually there will be a heavy price to pay. The experiment in social control and mind manipulation we see in this movie runs an inevitable course towards disintegration.
Those who lead sheltered lives to avoid the evils of the world will probably still stumble over a worse kind of evil. For more than anything else, this movie is a graphic depiction of man’s fallen nature, of how sin cannot be sidestepped, but must be squarely confronted. Whatever culture or community we may build, it will always be flawed by evil. Sin is not something ‘out there’ that we can withdraw from, it is ‘crouching at our door’. This is driven home to the villagers by the end of the movie.

There are many deep ideas on life and culture for the discerning viewer to tease out and discuss. Those who expect a scary thriller will be disappointed, as will those who want all questions answered and all loose ends tied up.

 

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