May 24, 2002 06:29 PM
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(Updated May 24, 2002 08:32 PM)
NOTE: With the confidence that my last review gave me and the heady intoxication I derived reading your comments, I venture out to present to you ladies and gentleman my second movie review in as many days… I have tried to cut out the flab a bit and be more relaxed with this one….but then I am not to be blamed… WELL YOU ASKED FOR IT
Forethought:
My wife, daughter and I live in one of those old styled tiled houses, which has those wooden floored attics, which is so very common in Mangalore. We have always had strange sounds emanating from the attic, at nights especially. Also, we have always conveniently blamed it on rodents or cats that are looking for a delivery room. We have rarely gone up to check.
I have always loved watching scary movies. I have also loved watching Nicole Kidman (Tom Cruise how could you let her go..?), so when some one recommended THE OTHERS to me, I picked it up without any second thoughts.
The Review:
Movie rating: (PG 13 parental guidance required)
The Plot:
The setting is perfect; an ancient and ridiculously large Bungalow on a remote foggy British isle. That is where Mrs. Grace (Nicole Kidman) lives with her two children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). They are the only ones in the bungalow (which could have accommodated not less than 50 more people (a rough estimate) if it were to be converted into a heritage hotel), after her servants had vanished almost mysteriously even without caring to collect their wages. Her husband had gone to serve the British in the World War II. It is now a year and a half since he left and there is no news of him.
The movie starts of with a Grace waking up screaming, as though she had a nightmare and her door step are three strangers who have seeking a job as servants. Mrs. Grace assumes that Bertha Mills the housekeeper (Fionnula Flanagan), Mr. Turtle, the Gardener (Eric Sykes) and Lydia the mute household help (Elaine Cassidy) have come seeing the advertisements she was running in the dailies asking for servants. She allows them to take up the job after detailing the rules that have to be strictly adhered to at the Bungalow, which include…
No door will be opened without the previous one being locked.
The children are photosensitive (a rare but a cruel illness which will result in the patients getting instant sores and possible death if they are exposed to any light stronger than a candle lights), so the curtains should always be drawn.
Silence is greatly treasured at the bungalow; even talking should be in whispering tones. There are no telephones or radios in the bungalow for the very same reason.
Soon Mrs. Grace realizes that the advertisement she had drafted to send to the dailies, was not even dispatched in the first place. Then how is it that these strangers, who were definitely not from the isle come to the Bungalow looking for, job? Also Anne has been of late talking about seeing people in the bungalow – which includes “Victor” a kid who claims that the bungalow belongs to his parents, an old lady who is blind (Victor tells Anne that she is a witch) and a middle aged couple. At first Grace dismisses this as her daughter’s imagination running wild. She even punishes her, thinking that Anne is lying to scare her younger brother. But then one (not so) fine day, Mrs. Grace hears some strange noises in her attic and trying to find out what it is, gets a glimpse of “the intruders”, whom Anne has been always seeing. She panics and decides to call the village priest, an idea that is vehemently opposed by Bertha (who until now rarely spoke against Grace). However Grace is in no mood to listen and rushes out of the Bungalow, only to get trapped in fog that has brought visibility to near zero. Then she hears someone approaching…. And slowly the figure becomes more visible and there is he is right in front of her eyes…someone whom she had never ever expected to see….Her Husband Charles (Christopher Eccleston)!!!
What was he doing here, wasn’t he supposed to be dead, what is the mystery behind the three servants who came from nowhere; uninvited and seem pretty scared of the village priest, who are the intruders and what do you mean by others….? The story has just entered its most interesting phase, and tempted as I am, I will not tell you what happens after this.
What I liked:
Excellent acting by everyone in the cast. Nicole Kidman is spectacular, but then so are the others in the movie. It’s a five star for the acting.
Superb photography (Javier Aguirresarobe). Whether it is the wet foggy mornings of a relaxed English countryside or the eerie expanses of the vast Bungalow, the camera just excels in creating the mood.
Music (Sound: Riccardo Steinberg, Music: Alejandro Amenabar) is bone chilling, there are a couple of scenes where I jumped of the seat (I weigh quite a bit by the way and am not easily displaceable). There has been a judicious mix of silence, low notes and sudden bursts of higher ones, which takes you to the edge of your seat.
Very gripping narration, the movie starts of at a slow pace and gathers momentum as it goes by. A relatively novel plot ( written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar).
The Climax, which left me in a fix for a few days after I watched the movie. There is one of the most unimaginable twists at the climax (I bet that even your “sixth sense” will not let you guess what is in store for you).
Afterthought:
I believe in God. I believe in science. But do I believe in the Ghost… I really don’t know. But then the sounds on my attic are no longer dismissed as rodents or cats….at least deep inside…When they come, my wife and I look at each other (I try my best to appear calm on the outside). One of these days I should go up to have a look… anyone out there who would like to come along…?
“…the intruders are leaving tomorrow...but others will come and sometimes we will sense them, other times we won’t…. That’s the way it’s always been…Well…” Bertha Mills to Mrs. Grace (The Others)
