Beyond the non-senses
The Sixth Sense A film review by Michael Redman Copyright 1999 by Michael Redman
*** (out of ****)
"The universe is not only stranger than you imagine, it's stranger than you _can_ imagine."
That's been a favorite quote of mine for years, although I don't know who said it. I would like to think it was Einstein or the Buddha, but in truth it was probably Spock or Kramer. It doesn't matter where it came from, the reality of it is apparent. We can't begin to fathom most of the answers. Rarely can we even ask the questions.
True understanding of the nature of the world is beyond our science. The occult can only be glimpsed: that's why it's called the occult. Even our own lives are filled with invisibles that we usually choose to blind ourselves to.
Young eight-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osmet) can see some of those unknowns. Everywhere he goes, the restless dead appear. Some even strike up conversations. Understandably Cole isn't exactly comfortable with the situation. In fact, he hides in a church and under a make-shift tent in his bedroom, hoping to avoid the deceased.
Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is dedicated to helping Cole cope with what the doctor believes are delusions. Malcolm is also haunted, but his spectre is the memory of a similar child he was unable to help years ago. The opening scene of the film is that child, grown to a gaunt spooked adult, breaking into Malcolm's apartment, blaming him for his misery.
Slowly, the doctor begins to believe Cole's accounts. Maybe the dead really do want to talk to him. Why?
The film is difficult to talk about for a couple of reasons. The are a few minutes that completely change the movie and are obviously the most important scenes in the film. But to discuss them would ruin the flow of the movie for viewers. Every single person leaving the theater is talking about those moments. Every one.
I also have very mixed feelings about the movie. There's a heavy oppressive mood that fits the storyline perfectly, but it rarely lets up. The dramatic lighting, settings and deliberate slow pacing do exactly what they should, but halfway through, you're looking for some relief. For some of "Sixth Sense", I was fighting the urge to view the inside of my eyelids.
But then there are the few minutes that will blow you away.
I was left wondering if those scenes made the rest of the film worthwhile. Yes, they do. The movie could have been better had more time been spent with Cole's encounters with his visitors or if there were more breaks from the melodrama, but it still works.
This is not a scary monster film. The ghosts aren't particularly terrifying. But there is a point where you must challenge some of your preconceptions about what is going on. That thought alone is unsettling. What if things outside the movie different than you believe? What if consensus reality is wrong? This is the scary stuff.
Osment is a wonder. There aren't many kid actors that could pull off the horrified, yet resigned to his fate, character. He does it effortlessly. I happened to catch his appearance on a talk show and was astonished to discover that he seems to be a normal boy. He's doing real, honest-to-god acting in this film, not just playing himself like most child actors do.
Willis is always fun to watch, even in the infinite remakes of "Die Hard" with different names. There are a few films where he steps out of that persona to become something more real. This is one of those.
Toni Collette as Cole's mother Lynn may be the most believable character in the movie and offers a down to earth quality to the otherworldliness of the film. She's a single mom, working too hard, trying to do too much. Lost in her endless tasks, she feel helpless to deal with her son's retreat from life.
If you are going to see this film, don't let anyone tell you about it. Don't read any more reviews. Don't ask about those few minutes. There are any number of things in life that need to be experienced and for which words are inadequate. This is one of them.
(Michael Redman has written this column for a very long time. You can send any comments you like to Redman@indepen.com, but he still isn't going to tell you about those scenes.)
[This appeared in the 8/19/99 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at Redman@indepen.com]
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