Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Brendan Gleeson
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Studio Synopsis: An isolated, tight-knit community lives in mortal fear of an oppressive evil inhabiting the forbidden forest just beyond their tiny village. So frightening that no one ventures into the woods, until one villager dares to face the unknown.
DVD Rating: PG-13
DVD Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Extras: Deleted Scenes; Deconstructing The Village documentary; Bryce's Diary; M. Night Shyamalan's Home Movie; and Production Photo Gallery
DVD Official Web site: http://video.movies.go.com/thevillage/
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Trailer: http://video.movies.go.com/thevillage/main.html?
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Review: It takes a village to shelter a child from the troubles of the world. With his latest chiller, The Sixth Sense’s M. Night Shyamalan examines the lengths that concerned parents go to keep their sons and daughters out of harm’s way. Strange creatures prowl the forest surrounding a secluded 19th-century rural community, and the slightest provocation can end the uneasy truce between man and monster. But nothing is what it seems, and so it is not until The Village’s obligatory twist is revealed that the parents’ intentions are exposed as inexplicably cruel, misguided and harmful. Yet Shyamalan seems so obsessed with carefully constructing his surprise ending that he fails to explore the moral ambiguities of the parents’ actions. That’s a shame, because The Village raises legitimate questions about the desire to protect a child without isolating them from the trails and tribulations they will likely face as adults. And you’ll be seeing red—“the bad color” that attracts “those we don’t speak of”—when Shyamalan finally discloses his terribly obvious and hard-to-swallow twist. The Village’s saving grace is Bryce Dallas Howard, the daughter of director Ron Howard. She’s deeply moving as the young blind villager willing to risk her life to save true love Joaquin Phoenix from certain death. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Bryce’s Diary, which chronicles Howard’s experiences making The Village. “I don’t think I will recover,” Howard gushes after seeing the film for the first time. The rest of her gee-whiz entries consist mostly of flattering costars William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver, and praising Shyamalan for his support. Howard’s sentiments toward Shyamalan are shared in the six-part documentary Deconstructing The Village, during which Hurt and Weaver describe the family atmosphere on the set. Informative but hardly revelatory, Deconstructing The Village is at its most interesting when Shyamalan discusses the problems with designing the human-size monsters and the necessity to cast theater-trained actors. He also introduces a handful of deleted scenes that mostly stress the village elders’ efforts to keep the young from wandering into the forest. The best involves Brendan Gleeson’s haunting recollection of his brother’s death, though the creepy sound effects are overdone. As usual, Shyamalan throws in one of his childhood home movies, but only this Indiana Jones-inspired short doesn’t really hint at greater things to come. Despite the extras, Shyamalan neglects to provide a commentary for the film. Accordingly, this DVD feels somewhat incomplete and is merely a taster for a future special edition. Perhaps Shyamalan is biding his time until he feels The Village—which received lukewarm reviews at best—is truly appreciated. Expect a long wait if that’s the case.
—Robert Sims