The Village (2004) - Review

I’ve long been a subscriber to the thought that learning spoilers isn’t as bad as people say it is. I understand why people try to avoid them at all costs when it’s about something they’re really excited to see, play, hear, or read. So I try my best not to spoil things for others in that regard. Even I am guilty of trying to go in blind on certain things just so I’m not too biased before I experience it. However, I’ve often found that knowing something ahead of time can be fun too. So, I’m going to be discussing the twist of The Village in this review for two reasons.

Before I watched The Village the whole way through for the first time, I had seen the ending and its main twist, so that significantly played into how I experienced it.
The twist is the main flaw I have with the movie and I think it was why other people hated it so much when it came out.

If you still have not seen The Village and avoided the twist you don’t want spoiled, despite reading a review of it 16 years after it came out, I don’t know what to tell you.

Pros

Good acting from an A-list of actors; even from one who I wouldn’t normally put on that A-list
Style and color palette of the film enhance the experience; even the plot is built around the color in some ways
Overall arc of the characters is compelling
The music score is fantastic
Still manages to be tense even if you know the twists

Cons

The main twist is pretty dumb and requires you to suspend your disbelief… a lot
The twist also sucks out all the supernatural fun that there could have been

Plot & Thoughts

A village of people, living deep in the woods of the east coast of the United States during (what appears to be) the 1800s, is isolated. The inhabitants seem to be perfectly happy on their own and don’t seem to have any sort of issues with their economy or society, despite not having contact with anyone else. There is the issue with the sentient and mysterious creatures in the woods surrounding the town that prevent them from going in and out, but things seem to be okay otherwise. Except, there seems to be a severe lack of medical supplies for emergencies. The younger people of the town are brave and eager to leave so they might be able to visit the neighboring towns to bring back supplies and prevent further death or despair. However, the elders forbid it. When an unfortunate “accident” occurs to the local handyman Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix), an exception is made, and his lover, Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), sets out to brave the woods and get supplies.

Also, the whole thing is a lie, duh. It’s not really the 1800s, it’s the early 2000s. There aren’t mysterious creatures in the woods that look like giant, upright porcupines in red cloaks. Those are just the elders of the town in Spirit-store costumes trying to scare people into not exploring beyond the town. They’re not isolated because of any curse or forest monsters. They’re actually inside a nature preserve owned by a billionaire in the town who wanted to give himself and some friends the opportunity to live without the shackles and horrors of modern life. Why they distinctly chose the 1800s (before Penicillin was discovered) is anyone’s guess.

If you start to think any more beyond the twist than writer and director M. Night Shyamalan did, you’re going to come up with some distinct and obvious issues. He accounted for the idea of planes flying overhead with a small line towards the end to indicate that he understood how there are certain things in the modern world that would completely pull the curtain back. But he apparently didn’t think much about human nature, or how this town is run by just one generation of people who know about the outside world and who will eventually die. So what happens to the younger people then? Without trade or any method of sustainability beyond the livestock and small crops they have, how does this village sustain itself in dire circumstances, like long winters or a flu epidemic? There’s also no birth control to speak of, and if the populace grows faster than its supply of livestock or agriculture, people are bound to starve. It’s a dumb twist and it removes any sort of supernatural mystery around the surrounding forest. Consider how the film would have played out had the twist been removed entirely. If The Village was just a story about people isolated from neighboring towns they couldn’t reach due to the dangers in the forest, I don’t think the film would have been panned so much.

I actually enjoyed The Village a fair amount, despite or, due to knowing the twist in advance. I was able to just enjoy the film for what it was. It wasn’t a horror thriller like it advertised as much as it was a character drama and a love story. The story of the quiet handyman Lucius falling for the blind and playful Ivy is charming and compelling. When Lucius is injured, you want to see Ivy succeed in her quest to save him. Both actors do a great job at showing subtlety in each scene and are supported by an A-list cast like Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver, and Brendan Gleeson. Even William Hurt, who I tend to believe is not very good at acting in a majority of his roles, does a decent job here with his more dramatic moments.

One quick final note: The music is also incredibly good. It was one of the first details I noticed and is probably my favorite thing about the movie.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

If you saw The Village when it first came out and were disappointed by it, I can understand why. The twist is stupid, poorly thought out, and overshadows a lot of the film and its reputation. That being said, however, I think the sum of its parts makes up for that failure. Having watched it for the first time with complete knowledge of the twist at the end, I was able to enjoy the different pieces of the film that made it more unique and fulfilling. Great music, a great cast, some genuinely tense atmosphere, an interesting color palette, and attention to detail in the cinematography all work well together to tell a compelling story that just happens to be overburdened by a really stupid plot twist. If you are able to isolate and remove your bias towards that twist, you may be able to enjoy The Village as I did.