| Subject: Spoilers!!! (I'll mark where they are if you wanna read) |
Author:
Kiersten
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Date Posted: 13:46:44 08/02/04 Mon
In reply to:
Sara
's message, "A DISAGREEMENT!!! :)" on 12:42:34 08/02/04 Mon
I knew SOMEONE would disagree. I've been arguing about it with people in my office all morning. :)
I agree with you that it's beautifully made. I have no problems with the cinematography or the costuming or the lighting or anything. And for the first time in any of his films, I did not figure out the twist until it was given to me. The problem was, I didn't care at that point. I felt absolutely no emotional attachment to any of the characters. I felt that every idea that could've been explored wasn't. Things were left dangling, and even things that were "resolved" just didn't work for me. Here's why.
Okay, here's where the spoilers start.
I have no problem with the monsters not being real. That doesn't bother me. But many other things did bother me. First, the dialogue. I'm not sure if it was badly written or if the actors were just uncomfortable saying it because it's not modern english. Either way, it didn't work. After it was revealed that these were modern people living in this village, I thought, "Well, okay then, they really AREN'T comfortable with the dialogue. I guess that's ok." But then I realized, no, wait a second. You have to assume that all the kids were born in this village, or else brought there at an extremely young age, so that they have no memory of the outside world. So, you have to figure that they've been there for at least--and this is an extremely conservative estimate--16 years. Probably more like 19 or more. After 16 years, they'd most definitely become comfortable with the language. But they weren't. They spoke it as if every night they had to pull out their cue cards to remember the correct words to use. And this drove me up the wall.
Second, there were things hinted at but never resolved. Sometimes it's ok to leave things hanging in a movie. But to me, these were more like "oh yeah, I forgot we started that idea. Well, too late now!" Like the whole thing between Alice Hunt (Sigourney Weaver) and Edward Walker (William Hurt). Lucius told Alice how Edward loved her because he wouldn't touch her. And we get one---ONE---scene showing this (the wedding). And then we never, ever, ever go back to this. And we never see anything with the relationship between Edward and his wife (I can only assume the woman who pleads with him that he made an oath not to leave the village is his wife), which makes the thing with Alice even more pointless. Why even introduce it?
Also, what was the deal with Noah? I'm guessing he was born the way he is. That's fine. But why does he get so excited and giddy when he hears the sounds in the woods? Why does he love all mention of the monsters? Some people have assumed that Noah was the "rogue" Elder who was skinning all the animals, but this doesn't make sense. He's obviously not faking his mental state, and with the way his character was developed it doesn't seem he's got the wherewithal to do these things. So, assuming he's NOT the "rogue," what's his deal? And assuming he IS the "rogue," why didn't any of the other Elders care enough to find out it was him? They know that he has to go to that Quiet Room quite often, and if he's got any kind of propensity towards these monsters, why on earth would they hide one of the suits under the floorboards where he is, all the time?
Next, does Shyamalan really expect me to believe that this little experiment could have lasted for this long? No way. The adults, yes. They were totally committed to this way of life and isolation because of what had happened to them before. But the kids? No way. Fear can only motivate for so long. I mean, the boys have already been playing chicken on the borders for a while. How long until they go into the woods themselves on a dare? How long until someone breaks into the forbidden shed just to see why it's forbidden? And obviously there's other suits hidden other places (under the floorboards). How long until one is accidentally found? If these kids are normal in any way, not long.
Then, the ending just outraged me. My friend just came in to work and totally disagreed with me about this, but I guess we'd have to ask Shyamalan to be sure what he was thinking. Okay, so Noah has been killed by Ivy (accidentally). So, let's work off the premise that she doesn't know it was Noah. Maybe we can even go so far as to say she thinks that maybe the creatures actually ARE real--after all, her father did say there had once been rumors of creatures in those woods. So she gets back to the village with the medicine and Lucius is cured, and the Elders tell everyone that a creature killed Noah, and Ivy killed the creature. And everyone keeps believing in the mythology, including Ivy, even though she'd been told before that they were fake. And, as Edward says, Noah has been sacrificed so that their village can go on undisturbed--he has made their legends real. Oh look! Is that Hypocrisy I see at the door? Why yes, it is, and it's making itself at home. Here is where my friend and I seriously disagreed. Edward Walker does not--or WILL not--see the hypocrisy of the village. They came there to get away from all the senseless violence in the real world. And yet, setting aside the fact that people die or go blind because they can't/won't get even the most basic medicine, there IS crime in the village. Noah tried to kill Lucious. The very thing they were trying to prevent is happening. And yet at the end Edward exclaims, full of relief, that their way of life can go on. These people have not learned a thing! My friend thinks this was Shyamalan's point. But what kind of a point is that? To show people not learning anything? Is it just to tell the audience members that no matter what you do, despite your best intentions, you can't escape the evil in the world? What kind of point is that? As for me, I think the ending could've been fixed a bit with just a couple of lines from Edward, talking about how they'd been wrong. How the elaborate mythology of fear they set up was cruel, how it didn't solve anything. But nothing was there. So am I supposed to believe that Shyamalan really thought that these simpler times were better for us to live in? Or am I supposed to be a complete pessimist and think that the entire world is awful, and always has been, and there's nothing good about it? I fail to see his point, and if the pessimism IS his point, I'm insulted by it.
If, however, you work off the premise that Ivy DOES know it was Noah in the woods, and she still knows everything was fake, what motivation does she have to keep this way of life going? Someone she dearly loves was almost killed because of it. Someone else she clearly loves (Noah) WAS killed because of it. Why on earth would she want to keep this legend going on? There's no purpose. Plus, even if she didn't know, it all goes back to the question of how long would it last? If the Elders did not pass on the secret, how long until everyone realizes there's no more creatures, no more fear, and spreads out of the village? Not long.
These people who have set up the village are so incredibly sadistic, and don't seem to care or even notice that they are. And that whole concept bothers me.
The relationships at play between Noah, Ivy, and Lucius were interesting and I wish that Shyamalan had decided if he wanted to make a dark romance or a suspense. Because to me, he seems to get lost inside his genre twisting and as a result neither is fully played out. Moments such as the one where Ivy was holding out her hand waiting for Lucius when the creatures were going through the town were good and helped show their developing relationship, and gave insight into the characters. But moments like Noah chasing Ivy through the woods in the costume were inane and totally off center. It's almost as if he had two different films he wanted to make but couldn't get enough out of either of them, so decided to combine them. It just didn't work for me.
End of spoilers, if anyone is still reading.
Anyway, sorry for the long rant! We can definitely agree to disagree. But I like to discuss movies, and nothing motivates discussion more than opposing viewpoints, they say...
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