Village Rumours
I watched 'The Village' again, this time on DVD...and I was again left wondering about the lack of success the movie actually met with.
Yes, it was painstakingly slow at times, but so was 'The Sixth Sense' (every Shyamalan movie, for that matter).
Yes, there were a couple of technical glitches, but they were more than made up for, by some refreshing acting cameos.
And then there was the plot.
Which got me thinking...the whole concept of creating their own isolated society in a past world with the primary goal of regaining 'innocence' is downright fanciful, not just in terms of the physical impossibility involved, but the warped reasoning that goes behind it.
The building-block for The Elders' case is that money is the root of all evil, which is such a flawed argument. Walker's initial dialogue when he decides to take Ivy into confidence, is all about how her grandfather had let money rule him, and how this had led to his violent death.
So the solution is simple for these wise folks.
Take away the money....peace and harmony returns.....Utopia is achieved.
How....hmm, Utopian!
Is money the root cause of evil?
Aren't we actually driven by desire? Whichever form it may take...jealousy, ambition, sex, happiness,...What we are is always a function of what we want, irrespective of whether we get it or not...and isn't that where 'evil' rears its ugly head?
Isn't money just one of the many factors that could contribute to it?
Even in the movie, doesn't a dim-witted Noah commit a stabbing in the 'ideal' society... a crime of passion, with none of the green stuff involved?
Isn't evil intrinsic to a human being?
err.....am I making a case for Original Sin?
Back to the movie.....the entire plot could have been made plausible if the director had discredited the Elders' scheme in the end, or atleast left the justification of their reasoning in the hands of the audience, but the silent vote of confirmation to their eccentric lifestyle in the movie's tail piece quashes all such hopes.
And that's why an ending which was meant to jolt the viewer from a 19th century myth to the hard reality of the new millennium, ended up actually taking me to even higher heights of fantasy...because that's what the movie turned out to be about in the end...a land of fantasy.
A disclaimer to end with, I actually really enjoyed this movie (why would I watch it twice otherwise?) because it was different and thought-provoking, and I maintain that it hasnt got the credit it is due. Take away the melodramatic references to those-we-dont-speak-of and childish fixations with bad and safe colours, and you still have brilliant performances from Howard Jr. and Adrien Brody to savour.
Only, it just ain't the perfect movie!
posted by Jonas at 1/20/2006 07:20:00 PM |
4 Comments:
I watched this Movie @ Sathyam complex.
I remember the theatre ppl making two people dressed in yellow walk thro the theatre while the Movie was screened.
Every one was left laughing at this act.
yup, I was there too, but we had a red-cloaked guy walk in front of us!
..but in the darkness of the hall and all, most ppl mistook him for a poor chap trying to find his seat! :-D
Quote <<<
Is money the root cause of evil?
Aren't we actually driven by desire? Whichever form it may take...jealousy, ambition, sex, happiness,...What we are is always a function of what we want, irrespective of whether we get it or not...and isn't that where 'evil' rears its ugly head?
Isn't money just one of the many factors that could contribute to it?
Even in the movie, doesn't a dim-witted Noah commit a stabbing in the 'ideal' society... a crime of passion, with none of the green stuff involved?
Isn't evil intrinsic to a human being?
err.....am I making a case for Original Sin?
>>>Unquote
Very rightly put. Desire is cause of all sorrow. Of all pain. The secret is therefore to kill desire. I liked the movie for different reasons. It was philiosophic. People who externally inhibit desire suffer from the consequences of those of the "village". Therefore desire has to be inhibited for within. Money is just a means to an end. In the hands of a saint a hospital is built. In the hands of a druglord fields of opium. Just means to an end. But the end has been conceived by a man. It was conceived of desire. Therefore the true VILLAGE is where there is no VILLAGE. The VILLAGE though good in its intention represented the bondage on the mind. Such a structure cannot withstand the test of time. As the VILLAGE did disintegrate. Bondaged and fanatical ideas tend to disintegrate.Its paradoxical. Its the in the heart of every religion.
But the village in the movie didn't disintegrate...and like I said, that's what I found slightly bugging about the movie.
And you couldn't resist a parting dig at 'religion', eh? ;-)
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