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Cutting Edges - The Sixth Sens (1999) - Film Review
The Sixth Sense (1999) is
an American production which caused a great impact on the audience, being the
best film by screenwriter and film director M. Night Shyamalan.
Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense stands out because of
its simple shots, because of its simple but at the same time complex story, and
because of the excellent main characters. Apart from Bruce Willis, the movie
stars Haley Joel Osment, who has made
maybe the greatest performance ever by a child actor. “The 11-year-old Osment
evokes the boy’s terror and awful predicament so memorably, you’ll never forget
him” (Desson Howe, 1999)
The story begins with Bruce
Willis in the role of Dr. Malcolm Crowe. Crowe is a child’s psychologist who
lives completely to his job, and despite his great achievements he is obsessed with
the painful memory of a young patient he was unable to help. Several months
later, Crowe has a chance to help Cole (Haley Joel Osment), a terrified and
confused eleven year old boy whose background reminds him of his only case
failed. Meanwhile, Crowe’s private life is a mess, and his marriage with Anna
(Olivia Williams) turns out to be a cold and a distant relationship, and he cannot
do anything to solve it.
“The Sixth Sense has a kind of calm, sneaky self-confidence that
allows it to take us down a strange path, intriguingly” (Roger Ebert, 1999). Its
powerful atmosphere and also the narrative way in which it is written, makes
the film have like a second dimension. A second dimension where Shyamalan shows
the audience the pure essence of fears and how terror makes people blocked and
unable to find a solution. And everything is set up in places where the tension
and the suspense are quite important. “Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan lets
the tension rise slowly, leads you everywhere you don’t expect, doesn’t rip you
off and totally freaks you out – all without stale effects or gone” (John
Patterson, L.A. Weekly)
There are some different
topics the film is about, such as a lonely childhood, the difficulty of being a
single mother, and the frustration of losing a marriage because of one’s job. But
it is also a film where nothing is what it seems to be, being the fear the main
topic of the whole film. The film shows things adults cannot see. It is said that children are better than adults at
seeing ghosts. Cole’s problem is that he can see dead people everywhere, but
they don’t even know they are dead and they cannot see each other. And the solution for all the topics given
before is communication. Communication with the family, friends and also with
strangers.
In conclusion, The Sixth Sense is an extraordinary
suspense drama and a psychological thriller developed in an extraordinary way.
It also has one of the best endings in the history of thrillers.
Bibliography:
Desson Howe (1999) A Chillingly Intense ‘Sense’ At: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/movies/reviews/sixthsensehowe.htm Accessed on: 17/04/2016
Roger Ebert (1999) The Sixth Sense At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-sixth-sense-1999 Accessed on: 17/04/2016
Stephen Holden (1999) A Boy Who Sees the Dead, and a Psychologist
Determined Not to Fail Him At: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802E3DB1430F935A3575BC0A96F958260 Accessed on: 17/04/2016
Illustration list:
Image 1. The Sixth Sense Poster At: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-sixth-sense/images/36136397/title/sixth-sense-poster-photo Accessed on: 17/04/2016
Image 2. Cole and Crowe talking At: http://whatsonnetflix.com/what-to-watch/the-sixth-sense/ Accessed on: 17/04/2016
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