The Village (2004 film)

The Village
The Village Theatrical Poster
Directed by	M. Night Shyamalan
Written by	M. Night Shyamalan
Produced by	Sam Mercer Scott Rudin M. Night Shyamalan
Starring	Bryce Dallas Howard Joaquin Phoenix
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Edited by	Christopher Tellefsen
Music by	James N. Howard
Distributed by	-USA-   Buena Vista Dist. -non USA-   Buena Vista Int.
Release dates	July 30, 2004
Running time	108 minutes
Language	English
Budget	-Production-   60 million USD -Marketing-   40 million USD

The Village is a 2004 film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that explores the dynamics of an insular American village colony and the collective fears of its members.

Plot

The film centers around a small agrarian village surrounded by a forest. According to the governing elders, the villagers have a long-standing truce with creatures, to which the inhabitants of the village refer to as Those We Don't Speak Of. These unusual creatures live in the woods — neither faction will enter the territory of the other.

Template:Spoiler With illness and death on the increase amongst the villagers, Lucius Hunt, son of one of the elders, volunteers to head to the towns for medical supplies. This means travelling through the forest and his request is turned down by fearful elders as the creatures of the woods start to leave warnings. Meanwhile Ivy Walker, daughter of another elder, begins to express her feelings towards Lucius. Being mostly blind she can only see vague lights and shapes, but is able to see Lucius as a color. Things go horribly wrong when Noah Percy, a man with mental disabilities, jealously attacks Lucius, stabbing him and leaving him close to death.

Knowing that the love between Ivy and Lucius has grown strong, the elders agree to allow Ivy to pass through the forest and seek out the medical supplies. Before she does, however, her father explains the secret of the creatures – they are fabrications created by the elders in an attempt to block out the rest of the evil world, where all the founders of the colony suffered family deaths and losses.

While travelling through the forest a creature suddenly attacks Ivy. Without sight, and with the stories of the creatures so deeply ingrained in her thoughts, she runs away extremely frightened. Her cunning allows her to trick the creature into a gaping hole and the fall is fatal. Soon, however, we discover that it was Noah in a costume that he found whilst being locked in a room as punishment for his attack on Lucius.

Ivy's directions bring her to a large wall. She climbs up, jumps to the other side and the final plot twist is revealed: the film is set in a much more modern time than was implied. A helpful park ranger, driving along the perimeter of the "Walker Wildlife Preserve", spots Ivy and is shocked to hear that she has come out of the woods. Asking her name he finds that her surname matches the game reserve he works for – Walker. He quickly agrees to help and gets the medicine she has asked for.

Explanation of the storyline

It is revealed later in the film that the story actually began in 1976, when Edward Walker was a professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania and the son of a billionaire. After the murder of his father he goes to a counseling center where he meets people in similar situations to him. He proposes that they all retreat away from the "cruel society" that has taken away their loved-ones and invests his inheritance in creating a wildlife preserve, called the Walker Wildlife Preserve, far from civilization. The perimeter of the preserve is patrolled by a security team that thinks they are protecting a habitat full of wild animals. However, deep within the preserve is a hidden village right out of the colonial period where Walker and his friends have created a false world around them. He also manages to bribe the government to create a no-fly zone over the area. All they had to do now was figure a way to prevent people from leaving, and they accomplished this by inventing the creatures.

The film is postmodernist in its theme of mere appearance being forged as reality and poses the question of whether sheltering one's children from alleged "evils" in the world (such as much of contemporary pop culture) is preferable to allowing a person to experience the world on their own terms. The film can be seen as having the existential theme of people taking responsibility for their own identities and lives in what they perceive as the hostile environment of modern life.

Reception

The Village received average reviews at best, even making the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films.

However, the film was another hit for Shyamalan, raking in audiences and earning a total of $250 million USD worldwide at the box office ($115 million domestically).

Cast

As is usual in his films, M. Night Shyamalan is seen in a brief cameo. In one of the final scenes his voice is heard for a time and his reflection can be seen.

Actor	Role
Jayne Atkinson	Tabitha Walker
Adrien Brody	Noah Percy
Frank Collison	Victor
Jesse Eisenberg	Jamison
Brendan Gleeson	August Nicholson
Judy Greer	Kitty Walker
Charlie Hofheimer	Young Security Guard
Bryce Dallas Howard	Ivy Walker
William Hurt	Edward Walker
Cherry Jones	Mrs. Clack
John Christopher Jones	Robert Percy
Joaquin Phoenix	Lucius Hunt
Michael Pitt	Finton Coin
M. Night Shyamalan	Guard at Desk
Liz Stauber	Beatrice
Sigourney Weaver	Alice Hunt
Celia Weston	Vivian Percy

Trivia

• On August 10, 2004, Simon & Schuster, the publishers of 1995 children's book Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix, claimed that the film had stolen parts of the storyline [1].
• In the upcoming 2006 film Scary Movie 4, The Village will be parodied in many ways, making this the third M. Night Shyamalan film to be spoofed in the Scary Movie series. First: The Sixth Sense (Scary Movie), Second: Signs (Scary Movie 3), and The Village (Scary Movie 4).

Awards and nominations

2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

• Won - Top Box Office Film — James Newton Howard

2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)

• Nominated - Best Original Score — James Newton Howard

2005 Empire Movie Awards

• Nominated - Best Actress — Bryce Dallas Howard
• Nominated - Best Newcomer — Bryce Dallas Howard
• Nominated - Best Director — M. Night Shyamalan

2005 Evening Standard British Film Awards

• Won - Best Technical/Artistic Achievement — Roger Deakins

2005 MTV Movie Awards

• Nominated - Best Breakthrough Female Performance — Bryce Dallas Howard

2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)

• Nominated - Best Sound Editing in a Feature: Music, Feature Film — Thomas S. Drescher

2004 Online Film Critics Society Awards

• Nominated - Best Breakthrough Performance — Bryce Dallas Howard

2005 Teen Choice Awards

• Nominated - Choice Movie Scary Scene — Bryce Dallas Howard, Ivy Walker waits at the door for Lucius Hunt.
• Nominated - Choice Movie: Thriller

External links

• M. Night Shyamalan - The Village
• The Village at IMDb
• The Village iofilm review
• M. Night Shyamalan Fans - The Village