Travel Past Shyamalan's The Village: A Flawed Plot Ruins a Very Interesting Idea

The Village opens during a funeral of a young child who has died from illness.  The headstone reveals the date as the end of the 19th Century.  Surrounding the village is a forest no one can enter because of a deal made between the Village Elders and the monsters of the forest.  Flags of yellow mark off the border.  Red is the color of the monsters.  There must never be red anywhere in the village or else the monsters will appear and they won’t be happy.  This is illustrated when two girls sweeping their porch see a red flower growing.  They rip it out of the ground and quickly bury it.




Lucius, a shy young man, played by Joaquin Phoenix, interrupts the Elders’ meeting to read to them a speech that he wrote.  He tells them he is willing to risk his life by traveling through the forest to get to the towns.  This will allow him to retrieve medicine so no one else has to die from illness.  They appreciate his bravery, but decline his offer.




Lucius learns that Noah, played by Adrian Brody, occasionally enters the forest.  Because he is slow and childlike, Lucius believes that it is because of Noah’s innocence that the monsters did not harm him.  Lucius crosses the border into the forest.  He takes a few steps, but quickly returns.




The monsters enter the village and kill small animals and livestock.  The Elders are scared by this new aggressive activity by the monsters.  The truce appears to be coming to an end. 




As we know from Night’s other films, things are never as they appear and the reality of this world will slowly be revealed to us.  Unfortunately, the plot, which is usually one of his strengths, is very flawed.  Elements of the story are forced to keep the suspense heightened; however, it does so at the expense of logic and believability.  When you get to the end, actions and decisions by some characters make absolutely no sense, so the film is unsatisfying.