Released Date: 5 August 2004

Synopsis (Courtesy from Buena Vista International) :

From Academy Award®-nominated writer and director and modern-day master of suspense M. Night Shyamalan comes the chilling tale of a close-knit community that lives with the frightening knowledge that creatures reside in the woods around them and the courage of one young man who challenges the unknown.

Review:

How far would you go to protect your loves ones?

"The Village", written, directed and produced by the multi-talented M. Night Shyamalan, tells a story of how fears had bonded a community and the sacrifice one would go to bestow their love ones a better situation.

The movie started with a picture-perfect village with villagers seemingly living harmoniously together. However, beneath the tranquilising settings, the villagers share the fears of a race of evil creatures residing in the surrounding woods, which the townspeople referred as "Those we don't speak of".

For many years, the creatures and the Villagers do not cross each others boundaries until a brave young man, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) requested the village's elderly to allow him to venture across the wood to the nearest town so as to obtain medicines that may save the life of those sickly villagers.

Lucius' courage was admired by the blind and beautiful, Ivy Walker (BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD). However, her love and devotion towards Lucius eventually leads her down a forbidden and deadly path where the worst nightmare awaits.

On surface, this may sound like a typical ghastly tales. But if you have been a fan M. Night Shyamalan's movies, you will know that there is definitely more than meet the eyes.

M. Night Shyamalan could be considered as the most innovative and original filmmakers of our time. His movies have touch many from all walks of life, using ghouls to brings out family values (as in the Sixth sense), employing superhero to hint the impact of comics book on our children (as in the Unbreakable), suggesting the co-existence of Aliens and the Almighty (as in "signs"). Now, with "The Village" Shyamalan exposed the minds of the overly concerned parents and the impact their actions may have on their children.

We are fortunate that we do not have hideous creatures lurking in our surroundings, but we are all living in fear everyday. We fear of terrorist, we are uncertain of the safety of our love ones, we are afraid that someone would harm us etc. Our eyes may not saw the things that we are worrying, but our mind somehow tells us the consequences if those things we fear really happen. We are, in actual fact, have a race of horrifying creatures living in our mind!

We are not telling too much here as we would not want to spoil your heart-pounding experiences watching the movie. And if you happened to be the fortunate few who had an early catch of the movie, we also requesting you not to spoil the entertainment values of others by revealing it's plot

Movie Rating: B