According to IMBd, M. Night Shyamalan is an Indian screenwriter,
film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary
supernatural plots including The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Signs
(2002), The Village (2004) and The Happening (2008). He is born in India (6
August 1970) and known for filming and setting his movies in and around
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised. His passion for filmmaking
began when he was given a Super-8 camera at age eight, and even at that young
age began to model his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. His first
film, Praying with Anger (1992), was based somewhat on his own trip back to
visit the India of his birth. He raised all the funds for this project, in
addition to directing, producing and starring in it. Wide Awake (1998), his
second film, he wrote and directed, and shot it in the Philadelphia-area
Catholic school he once attended--even though his family was of a different
religion, they sent him to that school because of its strict discipline.
His trademark is having some sort of twist
in the end or surprise ending in his films, The Sixth Sense (1999) is a very
good example. Other than that, many of his films involve two ordinary
individuals with extraordinary abilities or events happening to them. In The
Sixth Sense, Cole has ghost eyes and Malcolm is a bestowed child psychologist. In
his film, one of the people either has connections to a child or is a child,
and the one connected to the child is always having marital difficulties. His films
contain widowed spouses or struggling/abandoned marriages; Anna Crowe in The
Sixth Sense was a widow. He also likes to make little appearances in his own
movies, like Dr. Hill in The Sixth Sense. Car crashes play pivotal roles in all
his films: Cole reveals his gift to his mother during a traffic jam in The
Sixth Sense. He uses water as a sign of death or weakness; in The Sixth Sense
(1999), Vincent is hiding in a bathroom and kills Dr. Malcolm.
Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child
psychologist which his contribution is recognized by the Mayor. When he is
celebrating with his wife, a teenager, Vincent who was a patient to the doctor
intruded into the house and then kill the doctor and himself. One year later,
the doctor met a boy, Cole who shares similarities with Vincent and makes the
doctor decided to help him as he do not want to repeat his mistake. At the
beginning, the boy refuses to tell the doctor his secret as he thinks that he cannot
help him. As his age, he is disappointed by the people around him as people
don’t understand his feeling and think that he is a freak, so he chooses to
hide this as secret from people including his mother. After the doctor get
along with the boy, when trust is built, in the hospital, the boy tell the
doctor that he can see ghosts. But this is too shocking to the doctor as he is
educated and he don’t believe the existence of ghost in this world and assume
Cole is having visual hallucinations, paranoia and school age schizophrenia.
One day, Cole begs the doctor as the boy thinks that the doctor is the only
person who can help him. The doctor listens to his recording with Vincent and
found out a vague voice of a man speaking Spanish “I don’t want to die”. The
doctor runs to find Cole and help Cole to solve the problem. The doctor helps
the boy to understand that the ghosts show themselves because they want to ask
help from Cole. Cole listens to the doctor and helps the sick girl. The doctor
goes back to his home and sees her wife sleeping on a couch. He talks to his
wife and his wife answers him. When he sees the marriage ring drops from her
hand, he has flashback of Cole’s words and scenes of the night that he is
killed. He sees her wife was having dinner alone, the door is blocked by table
and clouds coming out of his wife mouth, and he realize that he is dead. When
he figures that out and has words with her wife, he is ready to go now.
According to Merriam-Webster, thriller is a work
of fiction or drama designed to hold the interest by the use of high degree of
intrigue, adventure, or suspense. According to Oxford dictionary, thriller is a
novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or
espionage. More interested in suspense, putting you “on the edge of your seat”
or in plain terms, making you nervous for the fate of the characters. Horror is defined as painful and intense fear, dread, or
dismay; intense aversion or repugnance; repulsive, horrible, or dismal quality
or character. A horror movie wants to make you fear for your persona safety, to
make you afraid that what happened to the characters may happen to you even
after you’ve left the theater. There is an intense feeling of fear, shock, or
disgust in horror movie. As a good horror movie often contains a great deal of
suspense and as a good thriller can be pretty scary in spots it’s more down to
the intentions of the film maker and the subject matter of the film.
The Sixth Sense is a masterful blend of psychological drama
and horrific imagery. There are moments when viewers are touched by the
emotional relationship between Cole Sear and his mother, and there are moments
when viewers are frightened by the disturbing images we are shown. This film is
rated PG-13 which means “Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be
Inappropriate For Children Under 13”. From the beginning of the film, the
mysterious feeling in the basement catches the attention of audiences and we
follow the camera to the living hall and to the room. When Anna sees pieces of
broken glasses and then suddenly a shadow pass by accompany with the shout of
Anne, this terrifies the audience as the camera moves to the bathroom and we don’t
know what will come out from there. The surrounding is quiet plus the broken
glasses, sounds of the phone with unknown person hiding in the room, this
creates tension and then feels scared. After that we see a pale teenager who
seems harmless but afraid at the beginning. Then he utters “You don’t know so
many things”, this cathes the attention of the audience as they don’t know the
things Vincent is talking about. Furthermore, if the doctor recognize who is
that teenager at this point, the story will become less interesting. When
Vincent say “Do you know you are afraid when you are alone?” and the he answer
his own questions, this make the audience eyeballs stick to the screen. And
then Vincent suddenly outburst and shout, this terrifies us and I think Donnie
Wahlberg did a very good job on this role, without him, the beginning will be
dull and can’t pull the audience to continue to see the movie.
Other scenes which create a high degree of intrigue are when
the cabinets are all opened in the kitchen, Cole acts weirdly in the class,
locked in the dungeon, the appearance of Neddy’s wife at midnight, hanging of 3
corpses at the corridor of school, the visiting of the vomiting girl ghost.
Different from horror movies, the director didn’t use a lot of blood, ferocious
face of the ghost. The director uses sounds, which is loud or quiet which makes
the audience uncomfortable. He didn’t use exaggerated technique to terrify the audiences,
but the deepest fear of human, like fear of facing darkness, fear of being
abandoned, fear of facing the deaths.
There are four main characters in this film, they are Dr.
Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), Toni Collette (Lynn
Sear) and Olivia Williams (Anna Crowe).
In this film, Bruce acts as a doctor who is in deep sorrow
and regrets; this is the reason why there is always a feeling of helpless and
sadness in his eyes. After the incidence of Vincent, his confidence on child
psychology is lost and refuses to help Cole with his excuse of problem with his
wife. In this film, he acts as a gentle and caring man whom makes us forget
that his appearances in many actions films (e.g. Die Hard series). When he found
out that he is dead, from his expressions, we can feel his love and care for
his wife, he yearns for the past and helpless when facing the reality. When he
sees his wife smile, relieved that he has said what he want to say to his wife
at the same time, this makes me think of another movie “Ghost” which share
similarity with this one. The difference is The Sixth Sense is a thriller, the
touching point is not reached by accumulation of emotion but the sudden twist
of emotion at the end.
I see people. They don’t know they are dead. How often do
you ee them. All the time. They are everywhere. They only see what they want to
see.
This film may star Bruce Willis, but it is Haley Joel
Osment's film from start to finish. He's a brilliant young actor who has been
great before, but outdoes himself here. Without Haley, this film would be a
disaster. At 11, he has shown mature acting skills and he tells stories using
his blue eyes. Undoubtfully, his performance in this film makes him nominated
as Oscar’s best supporting actor. My favourite play of him will the scene which
he tells his secret to the doctor. His watery blue eyes and his acting makes us
pity him a lot and he is really good at doing this. Other than a boy who is
scared and troubled, he also shows us what a boy should really be in some
scenes (chatting with her mom 21:20, sitting in a cart pushed by his mom 59:00,
drama which he acts as King Arthur 1:30:00).
The chemistry and bond Bruce has with Osment is striking and
powerful. There are some scenes where Cole shares his thoughts with Dr. Malcolm
make us think that Cole is an adult (scene in the school corridor 57:00 and
scene in the church 1:20:00).
What are you thinking , Mama? You think I’m a freak?
Look at my face. I will never think that about you. Ever.
Got it?
Got it.
Collette is brilliant as Lynn Sear, and her emotional
breakdown is heartbreaking. The central issue here is not the fact that Cole
can see ghosts. His relationship with his mother is crucial to the film's
success.
I’m tired in my body,
I’m tired in my mind, I’m tired in my heart.
Scenes between them are dramatically charged, and the
chemistry between the two is riveting. Toni Collette gives a masterful
performance as a woman so desperate to understand her child's problems that she
is breaking down emotionally. In what could have been a cliched, mother-beats-child
relationship, M. Night Shyamalan ensures that these two are the core of the
film's emotions. Cole must hide things from his mother, and it is easy to see
that it is tearing both of them apart. It's emotionally gut-wrenching, and
their scenes together are the best of the film. Olivia Williams is underused as
Willis' wife, though she is great when on screen.
You know why are you afraid when you are alone?
One role not forget to mention is Vincent; he plays a big
role and catch the audience successfully at the beginning of the film. He also
leaves a big impact on the doctor and makes him stay in the world and wander
for one year until he meets Cole which can help him to correct his mistake.
Vincent makes the story goes on and the main factor for the doctor to help the
doctor to decide to help Cole. By listening back to the recording with Vincent,
Dr. Malcom fined reason to trust Cole and help both Cole and himself to solve
their problems.
The story is told in chronological order. "I see dead
people", with four words, the course of the film changes. The Sixth Sense
is no longer about the emotional trouble this kid is having. Instead, it's
about Malcolm's fight to beat the kid's problems. How does one go about helping
a child get over the trauma of seeing dead people--complete with their bloody
injuries that they had when they died? Yes, this is a ghost story, but it's
also the first ghost story that actually sets out to help the ghosts. Are
Malcolm guides Cole to aide these apparitions in the resting of their souls.
The twist at the end of the film is a classic which is on
everybody’s mouth. Much has been said of the climax, in which the plot comes to
a screeching halt and sends it off in a completely new direction. It's the
ultimate plot twist. Just as the ending of The Usual Suspects shocked us, so it
does here.
After the doctor has been shot, we are not sure that the
doctor is dead or not but when we see him sitting on a chair in garden in the
next scene, we assume that he is still alive but in the ending, we realize that
he is a ghost then we abandon the inference we had before. When the doctor is
sitting together with Cole’s mother in the room, when the doctor meets his wife
in the restaurant, when we see the ending, we will think that it’s very obvious
that other than Cole, no people interact with him. The door he can’t open is
blocked by a table, when he is shot, blood coming out from his back. Everything
we thought we knew turns out to be questionable. It's worthy of a second
viewing just to see if it all works out. While there are moments that are
logically questionable, everything does work out. The twist is not the point of
the film, however. It's merely there to enhance the story, and it works. This
twist is not the only point to the story. It's just to make us talk about the
film afterwards.
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