In the world of horror movies, there is scarcely a name that produces more derision than M. Night Shyamalan’s. Now some of this is deserved. He did make that movie were Marky Mark fights the trees, and people (me among them) will never forgive him for what he did to Avatar: The Last Airbender (2010). That being said, Shyamalan has made good films. The alien walking out at the birthday party in Signs (2002) made the film a classic, despite what you think of the twist or Mel Gibson.
After Signs, came 2004’s The Village, and this was where Shyamalan’s star stared to fall. The Village is definitely a love-it or hate-it film, I have never met a person who has a middling opinion of it. As for me, I love The Village. The aesthetic, creature design, and deeper conflicts make it a Halloween go-to for me.
For the unaware, The Village is about an isolated community in the 1890s that lives in the middle of a creepy woods. The residents fear that monsters, referred to as “Those we don’t speak of,” might come out of those woods to terrorize them.
After a young child dies of illness, one member of the village, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), requests that he leave to find medicine in the towns beyond the wood. The towns are considered to be bad places, while the village is safe. However, the real reasons the elders don’t want anyone to leave are much more complicated.
Spoiler alert: the climax reveals that the time period is actually the 2000’s, and the village elders have been faking the monsters. Why? Because they experienced devastating violence in the modern world, and felt that a return to the past was emotionally safer for them and their families.
One of the reasons why I like The Village is because the setting provides context. Characters often give speeches that explain their backstories or motivations. During a watch-through where you don’t know the twist, you make all your assumptions based on the information that the setting has provided you. With the truth unknown, you fill in the blanks with wrong ideas. That information gap is what makes a reveal like the time period so powerful. You enjoy having been tricked.
Two such instances of this are when audiences hear from Lucius’ mother Alice and from Mrs. Clack. Alice tells her son how her husband was murdered on his way to the market and his body was found in the river days later. Later in film, Mrs. Clack tells Ivy about her older sister. The sister was killed by a group of men outside their home back in the towns.
While the stories are indeed horrifying, they fit within the expectations of an 1890’s world when they are first told. During the reveal, they are told again in voiceover, but without the language that concealed the time period.
I consider this visual storytelling even through nothing is on screen, because the audience is picturing the narrative themselves during both tellings. As for the ending, I will give Shyamalan credit for having the twist be shown to the audience instead of telling. Chief Elder Edward Walker and his wife open black boxes that all the elders possess. Inside are mementos from their lives in the towns. As the camera pans over the box, we see a picture of people standing in front of a building. Viewers that look more closely will see they are wearing clothing from the 1970’s, and now their entire view of the film has been shifted.
Even if you aren’t a fan of The Village, you have to appreciate the beauty of the soundtrack and the sets. James Newton Howard’s haunting score builds the eeriness of the location. Without it, the film would have lost the mysterious element that the music gives.
The primary sets were built in a field in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. I can applaud any film that created an immersive set for their actors. This adds to the believability of the film. If the set was more obviously manufactured, I don’t think the film would have worked as well. Like the cast, viewers are isolated with them.
We can’t talk about The Village, without mentioning the monsters. I adore practical effects. Far too often CGI is used when man-made materials would have looked better. Sure, the T-800 at the end of The Terminator (1984) is a big ol’puppet, but he’s physical and scary. It’s the same with Those We Don’t Speak Of. The creatures are made of materials believably acquired from people who live in the village. And they are still threatening.
Even with my heaps of praise, there are parts of the film that I am critical of. Noah’s character arc bothers me. I am never a fan of having mentally ill characters being used as “villains.” While the film implies that it is the elders fault for denying him medicine that would help his disability, it still doesn’t remove the fact that he is a perpetrator of violence. And why aren’t there any people of color living in the village? The past isn’t monochromatic. That issue could be an entire article on its own.
After I watch The Village, I wonder what will happen to the characters in the future. There aren’t many films were I feel this level of concern. What will Ivy do with the knowledge that her world is based on a lie? Will the village be able to continue beyond the current generation? What will happen if others find out the truth? It is with these considerations that I and many others return to The Village.
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