The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense has been breaking box office records since it opened earlier this summer, surprising viewers who have grown used to the trite and patronizing box office hits of the past. The plot is deceivingly simple: a young boy (Cole Sear/Hayley Joel Osmet) has the ability to see ghosts and his psychologist (Dr. Malcolm Crowe/Bruce Willis) must help him. However, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan takes this simple premise and turns it on its head. When he penned The Sixth Sense he sold the script without revisions, an action unheard of in today’s Hollywood. He manages to explore the human mind by portraying how people deal with one another. Ultimately, this is not a film about ghosts or “dead people” but about the living and how they speak to one another.
The plot centers around how Dr. Crow and Cole relate to each other. Crow seems to be both a peer and a father figure to Cole. He sees Cole as his chance at redemption, a way to atone for past failures. He is relentless as he persuades Cole to accept his help, but he still holds a degree of doubt that makes him more human.
Crowe spends much of the film striving to speak with his wife, who he has pushed away in order to dedicate himself to his work. He laments that she no longer seems to hear him when he speaks to her, that she doesn’t see him anymore. These are all simple relationships that writers and directors have been exploring for decades, but they are explored from a new angle, through a different lens that makes them more interesting than before.
The Sixth Sense owes most of is strength to two simple things: the dark and subtle style Shyamalan uses and the acting of two incredibly strong leads. Shyamalan and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto combined their talents to create a film where the background is just as important as the foreground. Continually, the camera follows a character and his shadow, as if to drive home the idea that once people are gone, something stays behind.
Throughout the film, people are seen shivering, with the white smoke of their breath seen clearly. After Cole informs both Crowe and the audience that the cold air is a sign of a ghost’s presence, a simple shot of a dropping thermostat is enough to make the viewer tense. A shadow passing across the screen makes you jump, unsure if you’ve simply seen an innocent passerby or a ghost.
The ghosts are not obvious translucent special effects. In truth, they are only a small part of the film. Cole’s reactions are all that tell you a ghost is near until halfway through the film. To Cole’s eyes, the ghosts are fully visible people who speak just as we do. They are frightening because they appear as alive as anyone else until you see the wounds that caused their untimely demise.
Bruce Willis has been given top billing for this film, but it is clear that Hayley Joel Osmet deserves it. At a mere eleven years old, he steals the screen from Willis whenever they appear together. His fear seems more real that that of the cast of The Blair Witch Project and his dialogue is more genuine.
Willis should be given due credit for his effort. The pain he feels when his wife looks past him is evident in only a look, yet he plays the type of character he tends to excel at, a normal guy faced with a challenge to overcome. The difference between the two actors is that Bruce Willis is always Bruce Willis. Osmet bears no resemblance to Forrest Jr. or Matt Foxworthy, two of the rolls that started his career.
Perhaps the best word to describe The Sixth Sense is surprising. It was billed as a ghost story but there is so much more to the film than things jumping out from corners and gruesome special effects. So many films of late have been hailed as “beautifully acted with a horrible script,” or “wonderful writing butchered by an inept cast,” that the audience and critics are never satisfied with the film as a whole. The Sixth Sense manages to satisfy on multiple levels, warranting a trip to the big screen.
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