By Robert Seebach
The Village is a suspensful romance about an isolated community living in a 19th century village. The Village was written an directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The Village features an ensemble cast including Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Brenden Gleeson. The Village was released by Buena Vista Pictures in 2004.
As any cinephile knows, M. Night Shyamalan had a series of less than stellar films at one point in his career. There are debates about which film started this period. Many point to The Village as the first film in which the master of plot twists had started to lose his edge. One reason cited for this is the execution of the film’s plot twist. I disagree. The plot twist in The Village simply carries less weight than Shyamalan’s previous films. Shyamalan attempted to create a different type of film in which the payoff didn’t rely so heavily on the plot twist.
The Village was a victim of poor marketing. The scary, suspenseful thriller portrayed in the trailers for the film is not what the audience got. I believe The Village marks a period in Shyamalan’s career in which he proves that he can produce work outside of his comfort zone.
There are many directions one could take when analyzing The Village. Like Shyamalan’s other films, there is a heavy use of symbolism, color, and a surprising plot twist. Since the film’s release in 2004 many of these topics have been explored. In this article, I intend to focus on the community of The Village and the secrets perpetrated by its residents for virtuous means. Having said this, Blog Man Ry gives an excellent analysis on the symbolism of the scenes in The Village that portray empty chairs. I have not read or seen any other analyses on the “empty chair scenes” and I found it to be an interesting take. Here’s the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysc5rppBLwg.
There are two huge secrets which shape the community. The first is that it is modern day. The Village was established by trauma survivors who sought a simpler, safer, and a more virtuous community. The second is that the monsters are not real. Secrets are part of the culture.
The idea of a group of trauma survivors creating a new world carries with it fundamental philosophical questions. The group must create new doctrines and beliefs for their new world. This new world begins by keeping the biggest secret of them all from the younger generation. The Elders create a creature mythology. This lie – or secret – is justified in the name of preserving their way of life. For The Elders this is simple and straight forward; the ends justify the means. But what about everyone else? Secrets beget more secrets. We see this play out in various ways with some of the younger generation of villagers.
Edward Walker potrayed by William Hurt, is the default leader of The Village. He is also the school teacher. There is a scene which takes place after the school children find the skinned animal in which Edward Walker discusses with the school children who the culprit may be. The children easily come to the conclusion that the perpetrators were “those we don’t speak of.” It is evident by this scene that the younger generation has been indoctrinated into the mythology The Elders have created from an early age. The Village live by late 19th century values based on community and virtue. The villagers are taught that all evil comes from the outside world. The evil creatures lurk just beyond their borders. Beyond the woods in “The Towns” are a host of depraved people where bad things happen.
Saying that “The Towns” are bad, is not enough. Curiosity gets the best of every teenager and one might venture through the forest to see for themselves. In a way, the mythology of the creatures is a type of homemade terrorism designed to keep people safe and The Village in tact. However, creating this mythology means that The Elders must periodically participate in acts of deceit in order to keep that fear alive. This means that they must every so often don the creature suits and terrorize The Village. In between these events, a few spooky sounds emanating from the woods suffice.
Let’s take a look at the secrets kept by each individual throughout the film. Let us start with the Elders as a sub-population. All of the Elders are keepers of the biggest secret of all; namely, that it is not the late 19th century. The purpose of this is plain to see. A more simple way of life, free from modern distractions and social influence provides meaning. All of these individuals come from trauma and the fear, confusion, and hopelessness associated with their former lives. In a way, The Elders have lost hope for modern society. To remove themselves from that failed system, they decided to start anew.
The Elders lied from the beginning about everything – the date, the monsters – all in the name of protecting their social experiment. As I stated earlier, The Elders had to construct a complete mythology and culture. However, in doing so, they teach their children to keep secrets as well, as if it were some cultural trait passed down to the next generation. I will discuss more on this point when discussing the non-Elders.
The Elders keep other secrets. It is these secrets that older and more observant young people begin to notice. The audience witnesses these events through the eyes if Lucius. Lucius questions the secrets he notices.
Lucius, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, becomes aware of The Elders’ “boxes”. He confronts his mother about the secrets she keeps. Lucius’s questions have an edge, as if he is exasperated. He even goes so far as to challenge his mother to open it. Lucius sums up The Village’s culture of secrets with this piece of dialogue between he and his mother: “There are secrets in every corner of this village. Do you not feel it? Do you not see it?” (The Village, 00:23:55 – 00:24:04) Lucius audaciously points to his mother’s locked “box”. Alice replies in a manner which suggests that this is not the first time Lucius has asked her about her past and the contents within her locked “box.” “That is for my own well-being, so evil things from my past can be kept close and not forgotten.” (The Village, 00:24:04 – 00:24:10) It is at this point Lucius challenges her to open her box, which she does not entertain.
Lucius receives a cryptic response from the grieving Mr. Nicholson, potrayed by Brendan Gleeson, earlier in the film. The burial of August Nicholson’s seven year old son is the opening scene in the film. As Lucius brings in firewood for Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Nicholson tells Lucius, “Like a dog can smell you. You may run from sorrow as we have, sorrow will find you. It can smell you.” (The Village, 00:15:49 – 00:16:10) The camera tracks August Nicholson’s gaze to where his “box” sits in a corner beneath the stairs.
Lucius is observant and suspects that The Elders’ secrets extend further than their locked “boxes.” Lucius also notices Edward Walker’s affection for his mother. As a continuation of their conversation about secrets and his mother’s locked “box”, Lucius explains that Edward walker also keeps secrets. “He hides, too. He hides his feelings for you.” His mother asks, “what makes you think he has feelings for me?” “He never touches you”, Lucius responds. (The Village, 00:24:21 – 00:25:23) The affection Edward Walker and Alice Hunt have for each other is kept secret.
Lucius keeps two secrets. One of the creatures observes Lucius when he wanders into the forbidden woods. Believing that the subsequent animal mutilation the following day is a result of this border breach, Lucius exposes his secret to The Elders. Lucius keeps his secret for a day at most. He exposes his secret because he fears he may have put the village in danger as a result of his actions.
The other secret Lucius keeps is his affection for Ivy Walker. This secret he also brings to light after Ivy confronts him about it during the beautiful scene in which the two sit on the Walker’s porch discussing Lucius’s lack of fear. It is in this moment, Lucius expresses his affection for Ivy. “The only time I feel fear as others do, is when I think of you in harm. That is why I am on this porch Ivy Walker. I fear for your safety before all others.” (The Village, 00:48:15 – 00:48:33)
We can speculate as to why Lucius hid his affection from Ivy for so long. Perhaps it was because he knew that he would be unable to act on his feelings for Ivy until her older sister, Kitty has been married. These are the customs of the village. Perhaps he feared rejection? There is no evidence which suggests this is the case. Who knows. The point is that Lucius feels uncomfortable keeping secrets, while everyone else appears complacent.
Ivy, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard, embodies what I call the cultural normalcy of secret keeping which has been passed down to the younger generation of villagers. The younger generation is not blatantly taught to keep secrets, nevertheless, if one is raised in an environment of secrecy, one will undoubtedly inherit these characteristics.
Ivy perpetrates the culture of secrecy as casually as any other character in the film. She playfully refuses to tell Lucius what his “color” is. Ivy, although blind, can see auras of color surrounding people. We never learn what color Lucius’s “color” is, but there are a few hints throughout the film which suggest that it is white or amber.
Ivy reprimands Noah for terrorizing the younger children with a stick. She leads him to a room where he is to sit in solitude. However, Ivy forgoes the punishment on the promise that Noah will not hit anyone again. Ivy then asks Noah what they should do with their “stolen time.” She even tells Noah that “It would be prudent to keep our deal a secret.” (The Village, 00:17:33 – 00:19:05) They decide on a foot race. It will be their secret that Noah has been released from his punishment.
Prior to her journey through the woods and destination of “The Towns” to get medicine for Lucius’s wounds, Edward Walker lets his daughter in on one of the primary secrets The Elders have been keeping. The monsters are not real! Edward explains to his daughter that the monsters are simply Elders dressed up in costumes and that the sounds heard emanating from the forest are them as well. Edward explains their reasons for this being their shared trauma and their desire to escape the evil of “The Towns.” Edward does not tell his daughter that it is not the 1890s. It makes you wonder when The Elders would let certain people in on that secret.
So, Edward lets her in on the secret of the creatures, but does make a point of telling his daughter that through his studies he did read accounts of strange creatures residing in the woods surrounding The Village. This is simply for the sake of exposition. Edward sends his daughter on her quest with two companions who are to accompany her until they reach the outskirts of “The Towns.” Her companions of course are not in on the big secret of the creatures not being real so Ivy attempts to soothe their nervousness by telling them that they are protected because they have “the magic stones.” When both of her companions ultimately leave Ivy out of fear, she begrudgingly dumps them to the ground.
Ivy now has the burden of this huge secret. Or does she? As she continues alone, Ivy comes across a creature who attacks her. She dodges her potential abuser who lands in a deep sink hole where it dies. The audience sees that the creature is in fact Noah who had discovered one of the creature suits. He is also the perpetrator of the skinned animals. Noah had been keeping secrets all along.
Up until then The Elders assumed that one of them was leaving the skinned animals without the knowledge of the rest. Again, more secrets. When The Elders learn of Noah’s death upon Ivy’s return, Edward Walker attempts to give meaning to Noah’s death by stating that, “We will tell the others, he was killed by the creatures. Your son has made our stories real. Noah has given us a chance to continue this place.” (The Village, 01:39:39 – 01:40:03)
What is interesting about Ivy is that in a brief span of time she went from believing that the creatures were real, to being told by her father that they are a farce, to now believing that they are real again. This is where the exposition of Edward Walker’s statement about reports of creatures living in these woods comes into play. In a way this all plays out perfectly because now Ivy will believe in the reality of the creatures once again. Or perhaps not? Would Edward lie to her? Obviously, Ivy will hear the story concocted by The Elders that Noah had been killed by the creatures. Ivy is an intelligent young woman. I think it’s reasonable to assume that she will figure out what had actually happened, namely that she mistakenly killed Noah.
Which begs the question: If this community is to survive The Elders will have to tell certain other people of the ruse. At what point do they decide to do this? Will people like Ivy and Lucius, whom I think it is safe to say would be among the first to be told the truth, accept this truth? That is difficult to say.
The Elders created this community because they were all trauma survivors. But are they not traumatizing their youth by perpetrating the myth of the creatures and instilling fear? There is an old saying: “you’re as sick as the secrets you keep.” Has the community of The Village been a success? I believe in many ways it has. Nevertheless, as Mr. Nicholson told Lucius, “You may run from sorrow as we have, sorrow will find you. It can smell you.” (The Village, 00:15:49 – 00:16:10)
I enjoy this film. I believe it receives undue criticism, primarily because of poor marketing. This film was marketed as a horror film from the master of plot twists. People were expecting to see a scary movie with monsters and a characteristic Shyamalan twist at the end. This is not a horror movie and although there is a plot twist, the twist is not as integral to the overall story being told as many of Shyamalan’s other films.
The Village is a romantic folktale played out on film. If the film was marketed as such, I believe more people would see the beauty of this film. The acting is stellar, Roger Deacons’s Cinematography is immaculate, and James Newton Howard’s beautifully crafted score compliments the story. The Village is not Shyamalan’s best film, but it is by far not a bad film. I’m confident that if viewed through the lens of the love story that it is, more people will fall in love with this film.
Works Cited
The Village, Dir. M. Night Shyamalan. Buena Vista Pictures, 2004. Film.
“Film Analysis – The Village.” YouTube, uploaded by Bog Man Ry, 21 May 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysc5rppBLwg