The Village People Are Strange - And I Don't Mean The Group! (The Village (DVD))

Member Name: Ayesha-`

Product:	The Village (DVD)
Date:	27/08/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unusual idea for a film

Disadvantages: Not really a horror, weak acting, disappointing

It will be quite hard to summarise the plot to this film without giving away too much, but I hope this will at least give an idea of what the film is about and the basic story. Regretfully for me, I actually bought this film on DVD, and as you will see, it's not turned out to be such a good buy!

The Story

It is about a society that has broken away from the rest of the world and modern life. They have set up a village away from the towns, but it is near a forest where the people are forbidden to go as it is inhabited by 'those we do not speak of'. These creatures appear to have threatened the villagers in the past but it has become a common agreement between them that they do not venture into each others' territories. The creatures may also be attracted by the 'bad colour', which is red, and so this colour is never allowed to show in the village.

One member of the town, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), however, has become curious that there may be benefits to leaving the village and venturing past the forest and into the town. He suggests that they may find better medicines than the treatments they use within the village, for example, to help Noah Percy (Adrien Brody), who has some sort of learning difficulties and can be quite excitable. However, when something terrible happens, it is up to Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard), an admirer of Lucius, to take the bold step and journey out to the towns. She will have some trouble, however, persuading the elders, in particular her father, to allow her to go, and with the danger of the creatures, that appear to be becoming increasingly aggressive, crossing the boundaries at night to threaten the villagers, the possibility of an attack lingers.

The story itself is somewhat interesting, but as I show below the way it was done was just weak and unconvincing. The parts of the film that are meant to be scary seem more like those parts of a film when you are just waiting for the action to get going. I found it hard to sit through the whole thing without getting fidgety and wandering about the house! On the upside I didn't feel like I needed to catch up if I missed a few seconds. Or should that also be on the downside?

Film Qualities

I think that 'horror' is not really the appropriate word to describe this type of film, because it implies that it will scare you, and I'll be surprised if it does. There are mild psychological effects of the soundtrack and the brief appearances of 'those we do not speak of', but there is nothing particularly disturbing and any effects are short-lived, leaving a sense of disappointment after the film.

The opening music is eerie, filled with tension and makes you feel a little jumpy. Throughout, the tone of the music is low and quite solemn with lots of violin riffs to add to the mood. Generally the music fits well to the film and probably gives the best of the horror/suspense effect that the actual story lacks. It keeps your attention but does, however, raise your expectations quite a bit and the acting does not really live up to the standard in my opinion.

The setting is an old-style village with mostly wooden constructed housing. Huge tables are set up where all the characters dine together, emphasising the close-knit nature of the community. The costumes have a historical style about them perhaps intended to be similar to the type of clothing worn by the early settlers in America, with all the women wearing traditional dresses. This is matched by the old-fashioned language used by the characters, which leads us to believe this is a period film. The costumes of 'those we do not speak of' are poorly made, do not look realistic from the start and are certainly not scary.

The Acting

Bryce Dallas Howard was the best performer for me in this film, portraying a naïve young girl, affectionate and kind to friends and family, blind but very independent. Adrien Brody was also good as someone mentally impaired, playing the role in an appropriate manner and well reflecting the emotional confusion of his character. Joaquin Phoenix for me was plain, he whispered too much and his character's personality was weak and did not really stand out. It's a shame as I felt a lot more could have been done with this role.

While some of the characters seem genuinely afraid by 'those we do not speak of', it is hard as a view to really feel any empathy with them at all. The creatures do not really look scary, almost comical, and they move slow and clumsily. They appear more weird than dangerous, in fact, frankly they look more like drunks in Halloween party costumes - rubbish ones.

Classification

The film is rated 12, and to be honest I'm surprised it didn't make a PG as I have seen scarier PG films in the past, and certification generally appeared to be getting more liberal. There is a bit of violence towards animals (well we see the result of it rather than actual violence) and this could be upsetting for some viewers. Otherwise, there was no swearing, although a lot of old style weird language! There was also nothing sexual in this film so it would be alright for kids generally.

Conclusion

To be entirely honest I was quite disappointed with this film, perhaps mostly because it was categorised as a thriller/horror when it clearly was not. The element of mystery was the only thing that really kept me watching the film and the second time watching it was incredibly boring. The acting was not particularly memorable, although I quite liked Howard. The story had potential to be intriguing and memorable but sadly the film simply did not have that effect. For this reason I would not recommend buying it. Don't waste your money, though you might borrow it just to find out what it's all about, don't get your hopes up, it's nothing special. Probably for most people, it is the kind of thing only worth watching when you are that bored and there really is nothing else on telly (a bit unlikely these days).

Summary: Doubt it's worth the bother, and definitely not worth buying!