A little story of a movie

(This was due for publication last night, but the Internet was a little crowded)

While down at the Hoyt reunion in Georgia, some of us (some of us between the ages of 16 and 28) saw The Village. This won't be a critique, just my impressions. But if you haven't seen it yet and don't want any spoiler, you can stop reading now.

We really had the perfect setting for this movie: we were in a little cabin-style home stuck away off a dirt road in the Georgia woods. It was after 1 A.M., and our seating - couch, chairs, and floor - had its back to the door to the deck and windows overlooking the deck. Of course, someone was kind enough to turn off all the lights. My cousin Laura and I were on the floor, a good strategic move since it put the couch between us and the windows.

The first scenes left two distinct impressions. One was a man crying over his son's coffin, so I immediately concluded that the movie would be sad and frightening. The second could have been a scene from an early Thanksgiving feast: a long row of tables and everyone dressed rather old-fashioned. Being pretty dense, I immediately rewinded my mind a few centuries. It all seemed a little Puritan, kind of somber, no red allowed, too gaudy, or too... something. Everyone spoke oddly, too well and almost archaically. And there was a village council. Make that a progressive Puritan village where women sat on the council and talked at least as much as the men. Oh yes, they were religious too, down to the priests in yellow cloaks tossing the devoted meat onto a huge flat altar - ah, rock... stone. But this was a religion driven by fear.

I suppose I should have figured out that They weren't really monsters... finally one of Them actually appeared, could have been a person dressed up. But it had to be an Outside person hostile to the village. Truth didn't strike me till Walker told Ivy, and that was an immense relief... very welcome relief, because the sound technicians kept blasting bursts of bass at us, especially at the frequent startling moments. Laura must have jumped a little higher than I did, since the others teased her and not me. I was glad to have someone else share my reactions, and occasionally voice them, which I didn't dare to do in the face of such manipulative genius. The writer obviously wanted to overpower me, so like a good little villager I'd sit there and let him do it.

Kitty's nearly hysterical declaration of love to Lucius made us all laugh... as did Ivy's asking Lucius when they would marry, and his response, "Why don't you let me lead for once!" Short reprieve, more shocks were to come. When the camera staggered with Noah right up to Lucius, something had to be wrong... when Ivy gasped for breath behind a tree, the camera would pan out, of course, to show It right behind the tree. Now that was really cruel, especially to Ivy, when she knew there should be no more of Them!

When Ivy stumbled out onto the road, I think I was the last one to realize it was a modern-day vehicle driving up, and of course I completely missed the Walker on the side. That's why I like watching movies with Hoyt cousins who sit around and discuss anything afterwards, no matter how late it is.

Now which is worse... an outside group terrorizing the village, as I first thought... or the council members terrorizing their own village? How absurd to use fear to protect their people. And their own children. In the end, that's what I can't understand. I suppose it's a choice everyone has to make: hole up and let your children grow up believing the evil comes from monsters, or live in the real world and let them realize the evil is in everyone, and they must deal with it. They couldn't escape the evil; it came from one of their own, when Noah stabbed Lucius. (now that really was not pleasant)

There should be more movies like this, movies you have to figure out - or find out - as you go.

I think we all slept that night, but there were Red jokes making the rounds for a while.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you've seen The Village. By the way, I didn't title this weblog Sharon's Soliloquy for a reason. (besides the obvious ones) Comments are always welcome!