The Village - Das Dorf

A film whose biggest weakness is, paradoxically, the thing it cannot control itself, the overly high expectations of the fans of the director and screenwriter in one person. I enjoyed Shyamalan's intriguing plot premise, I also enjoyed the main idea that emerges after the central plot twist is revealed. Unfortunately, though, that twist is quite problematic. Not because it isn't interesting, but because it raises a lot of questions about improbability and being too "far-fetched". Nevertheless, I was still satisfied. The Village is a beautifully atmospheric affair, with great music, and the fact that it doesn't feel much like a horror movie and that I was hardly scared at all bothered me least of all, and I don't take any criticism in that direction. (16.02.2005)

Irgendwie geimpft mit allgemeiner Skepsis, die selbst im Lager der Regietreuen herrschte, machte ich auf all meinen Wegen einen Bogen um The Village - Das Dorf. Und heute weiß ich, dass das ein Fehler war, denn dies ist der erste Shyamalan-Film, der wirklich etwas zu bieten hat, etwas mehr als nur eine hervorragende technische Ausführung und Pointen, die nach der ersten Enthüllung langweilig werden. Die Pointe von The Village - Das Dorf ist vom ersten Moment an offensichtlich, ebenso wie der Versuch des indischen Zauberers, seinen Film eher als psychologische Studie denn als Thriller zu konstruieren. Das interessante Spiel mit Andeutungen, Farben, Charakteren, Andeutungen, die Schrägheit, der manchmal personifizierte Erzähler, all das trägt zum einnehmenden Gefühl von The Village - Das Dorf bei und schafft eine Atmosphäre, die nicht gruselig, sondern eher angespannt und geheimnisvoll ist. Die geschlossene Gesellschaft der "Gerechten" wirkt in der Tat seltsam, die einzelnen Figuren sind verschoben, gestört, ungewöhnlich. Shyalaman trifft ihre Interaktionen gut (die hervorragende Liebesszene zwischen Lucius und Ivy) und weniger gut (die unnötig gestelzten Dialoge der "Ältesten"). Gelegentlich knarzt das Drehbuch, nämlich dann, wenn zu viele große Worte gemacht werden, wo Stille genügen würde. Shyalamans Ringen um einen neuen Ausdruck, der sich von traditionellen Klischees löst, ist mühsam und dank des Endes erfolgreich. Aber wir können nicht sagen, dass er 100%ig überzeugend ist, eher wackelig und unausgewogen. Aber ich muss noch einmal wiederholen, dass es einen hoffnungsvollen Unterschied zwischen Shyamalans Feinkostladen für die Massen und The Village - Das Dorf gibt. Ich hoffe, der Regisseur hat keine Angst davor. (31.10.2005)

A splendid study into the life of a strange, closed community. Nothing special in acting terms and, from Adrien Brody, a perfect parody on acting performances. As usual, Shyamalan has everything firmly in his grasp in terms of directing, but the screenplay slipped through his fingers this time round. Because he was trying too hard to live up to viewer expectations and forcibly grafted on his traditional tension-rising-toward-a-climax element. If he had revealed this “shocking" event right at the beginning, the end result could have been much better. This is a great shame, because some moments suggest that The Village held great potential that unfortunately was exploited terribly little. (02.10.2004)

With each subsequent viewing, a more fantastic experience from places that few can penetrate, but once you come, it’s difficult to find a way back through the woods. And maybe you won't even look for it. Shyamalan is a master from another world. (27.01.2007)

I by no means claim that The Village is M. Night Shyamalan's best film, but I like it the most. Emotionally, it may resonate with me more than the acclaimed The Sixth Sense. In one of Švankmajer's films, the heroine says: "You have to close your eyes, or you won't see anything." In the case of The Village, it is not necessary to close your eyes but to embrace the director's game and let your imagination carry you away. The film doesn't function as a thriller or even as a horror, and anyone who thinks in terms of traditional genres will inevitably be disappointed. However, The Village, despite many contrary claims in the reviews, offers a range of very good acting performances, directorial ideas, and above all, atmosphere. Overall impression 90%. (13.06.2006)

The form crushes the content. The phenomenal music, the great cinematography, and the attractive setting mask the film’s vapidness and simplistic script. However, aesthetically, it is so refined that it is worth watching at least once. (12.02.2005)

What the fuck is going on here? Mr. Shyamalan, don't be mad at me, but I don't buy this. The Sixth Sense and Signs were good, hats off to you for that, but I feel you've been wandering in a vicious circle ever since. The Village is just awful – but you know what I mean. It makes me so angry to think how I wasted 100 minutes of my life. And yet, the premise made me expect that there would at least be something happening, that there would be something frightening, that I would see a bold and unconventional movie. Bollocks. Despite the presence of all those great actors, this is one of the biggest and most painful disappointments I've ever seen in a film, and one of the biggest screenwriting screw-ups. It seems it has impressed some people, but there was nothing that impressed me. In the beginning, you can feel some atmosphere, but as the time drags on, when nothing happens at all and only insanely lame dialogues are on the agenda, any glimmer of tension inexorably disappears and you have to accept that the director is either crazy and taking the piss, or he’s completely stupid and the mystery of this film has failed to reveal itself. So I guess I'm a fool, but the moment the mystery of the ghostly apparitions was revealed, I got up and walked away from the TV. I really couldn't be bothered with this, I just couldn't stand one more minute of such an uninteresting piece of garbage. And why I’m giving it that 1* then? For Phoenix, simply. For him and for the other poor actors who had to endure it far worse than I did. (05.02.2013)

"The Village" is a bad movie and this feeling only deepened with the second viewing. The first time I was disappointed because I was expecting something great, the second time I just saw the overly ridiculous plot, which literally begs for parody. That village is not a place you would want to return to. The horror elements are excellent, but they only last for about three minutes in total. For such a long runtime, it's not enough and you have to prepare yourself for a long romantic drama with incredibly caricatured characters. (12.03.2014)

Even if my 5 stars were only for the incredibly gradual and at times literally refined atmosphere, technical perfection, and magical music (the "stupidity" of the story is overlooked; after all, I didn't find the story stupid at all, just reacting to some of the reviews here, hence the quotation marks), this film deserves them. I watch every other Shyamalan effort with anticipation and expectation of a greater or lesser dose of the mystery I found satisfying to say the least in The Village. It should also be noted that the film as such has a rather interesting idea and the moment the viewer gets the point and the pieces of the puzzle are connected, he/she sees the whole film from a completely different angle and perceives the individual characters differently as well (at least it felt that way to me). (06.11.2009)