M. Night Shymalan's The Village

I once saw a documentary about M. Night Shyamalan while he was shooting this movie. The documentary wanted to show him as a dark guy who delves into the occult, gives details on his eccentricities about contracts and his clandestine movie sites. In my opinion, everything in the documentary was deliberately misleading. They had failed to produce proof of anything abnormal. What they did succeed doing was to cover the movie with more mystery and therefore giving it more publicity. And if they had understood the movie, the documentary producers would realize that people are the only living creatures capable of instilling the greatest fears to other people. The producers just showed themselves the primary example of this. All great minds are eccentrics. Look at Einstein with his hair and Da Vinci with his boat shoes. It’s thinking outside the box that makes them great.

I was watching the last part of the movie last night at HBO. Missed the first part because I was watching something else. I normally wouldn’t watch a suspense thriller movie because monsters tend to appear in my dreams to haunt me. But I’ve been a fan of Sixth Sense and Signs so I know it’s a must-see. When I freak out, I quickly press the MUTE button. Lol. I know I’m missing out on some of the greatest dialogues but it’s the only way you can make me sit through a suspense thriller. Anyway, I LOVE it! The screenplay (the ones I didn’t miss) was brilliant. The blind girl, Bryce Dallas Howard, was a superb actress and the sounds (the part without the Mute) all make up a wonderful movie. M. Night Shyamalan is the Alfred Hitchcock of the 21st century.

The only time I felt that terrified was when I was seven years old. My younger sister and I were playing at our neighbor’s house when our older playmate started telling us stories about a beast outside the house waiting to eat us. Her stories seemed real enough because it scared us shitless and since we can’t go home, we felt like we were sitting ducks. She even had the doors and windows closed to prove that the beast was actually circling the house. When I can no longer stand the stories, I summoned all the courage my one meter frame could hold, took my sister's hand and walked out the door. My playmate's voice followed us, taunting us that the beast was behind us and was following us home. The long walk six houses away was the longest in all my 7 years. Keeping my eye on the house, I walked determinedly, with my heart beating so loud I was convinced the monster could hear my fear. The moment I reached our gate, I looked back and almost cried because the only monster there was my playmate … ex-playmate. After that incident, I never went to her house again. Anyway, the scene where Ivy was walking blindly in the forrest, that is exactly how it felt like.

I don’t like to be with people who would limit my movement by scaring me out of action. As far as I’m concerned, those people are the real beasts. And the best way to conquer them is to battle your own fears.

Hats off to M. Night Shymalan.