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The Sixth Sense
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The Film :
In a perfect world, The Sixth Sense would've been heralded
as one of the best ghost stories ever told, and in the end, Haley Joel Osment
and Bruce Willis would be going home with Best Supporting and Actor
honors, Toni Collette as Best Supporting Actress, M. Night Shyamalan as
Best Director, and of course the film as Best Picture. Unfortunately, this
isn't a perfect world, so this fine film did not win a single one of the
sixth Oscars it was nominated for. I bet Cole's "sixth sense"
didn't see that one coming. However,
I'm getting ahead of myself; the truth is, this is perhaps the best,
finest, most magnificent achievement in ghost storytelling I have ever
seen. In many ways, this is the type of ghost film that even Steven
Spielberg himself has had trouble bringing to the silver screen. Remember Poltergeist...?
Well, imagine that film ten times better, with an almost "epic"
feel to it, and an absolutely ingenious plot twist in the end. That's The
Sixth Sense to a "T". The
story begins with child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe (Willis), confronting
one of his former child patients. The patient winds up with a gun in his
hand, leaving Malcolm with a gunshot wound and the patient killing
himself. Malcolm is determined to not make the same mistakes again. He
gets his chance in little Cole Sear (Osment), who as the classic movie
trailer attests, claims he can "see dead people...all the time."
However, this is not a troubled boy in the psychotic sense; this is a boy
with a truly amazing gift...if only Malcolm could help him learn to cope
with it. The resulting story is a
very nice friendship tale between Malcolm and Cole, since both need help
from the other. Cole needs to cope with his seeing dead people, without
going crazy trying; Malcolm is having problems communicating with his
wife, Anna (Olivia Williams), ever since that confrontation with his
former patient. Cole is able to help Malcolm find the solution, in a
solution only a child would be able to think up. In the end, Malcolm helps
Cole communicate with the ghosts he sees, and Cole winds up solving a
murder in the process...and gaining the self esteem he's been looking for.
In the process, Malcolm gets his confidence back in helping others as a
psychiatrist, as well. This leads to a truly brilliant plot twist that is vintage
ghost story fodder. Of course, this
is a ghost story at its core, and a very eerie one. I particularly
liked how none of the scenes involve too much of an "ick" factor
to get their thrills across; this isn't a movie with zombies ripping their
faces off or gushing ketchup presumed to be blood. While one ghost
apparently died of a head would --which we see-- while another ghost died
of food poisoning --whose desire to hurl we also see-- there is little
here that crosses the line between "thriller" and "cheap
shock value gore." At the very least, there is far more of the former
than the latter. So much so, that I
really wanted The Sixth Sense to win at the Oscars, though that
wasn't to be. American Beauty would win the top honor of the
evening, with an ironically very ghost-like Angelina Jolie --resembling a
member of The Addams Family-- winning as best supporting actress over Toni
Collette, whose role as a single mother trying to cope with her apparently
troubled son was a magnificent performance. As for Bruce Willis, he wasn't
even nominated, regardless of this being his best work. Meanwhile, Haley
would lose to Michael Caine, which I suppose is due to seniority more than
favoritism for Caine's less-than-stellar film, The Cider House Rules.
Be all this as it may, the end result was this film losing all the sixth
major Oscars it was nominated for. If
you never saw The Sixth Sense, and you LOVE ghost stories, I implore you to see
it and make up your own mind if it was Oscar worthy. However, be
forewarned that writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's work (which also
includes Unbreakable and
Signs), this film is not
for everyone. More to the point: it's not for people who like the
same-old, same-old. The Sixth Sense is both at once
a fantastic tale, though also an acquired taste. Shyamalan doesn't dilute
his tales to be overall crowd pleasers, though finely tunes them into gourmet
dishes, only for the most devout fans of the subject matter. Signs
was for the people who like to think in their sci-fi films; Unbreakable
was for comic book fans who like to think in their superhero tales;
comparatively, The Sixth Sense is a ghost story with a lot of depth
to it, unlike the cheap-shock-value ghost tales we get on a yearly
basis every Halloween. People who want clawed off faces need not apply;
this is a thinking man's ghost tale.
---Techtite
The DVD :
Recently, this is one of the original (pre-2000) DVD releases which
got the "Vista Series" treatment. As a rule, these are DVDs that
deserved the two-disc special features treatment back when they were first
released, yet the concept wasn't considered yet, leaving the film on a
singular disc with minimal extras. There really is no reason to buy the
single-disc DVD by now, since both the new Vista Series and original
editions of the disc, are being sold for the same price. In a very real
sense, you are getting the second disc of extras for free.
In the interests of continuity, however,
let's cover all the extras the original disc already had, which the Vista
edition does as well. For people that had the plot twist go right over
their head, there's a short featurette called "Rules &
Clues," which showcases the clues leading to this plot twist, as well
as the "rules" Shyamalan followed to stay true to the twist,
when writing/directing the story. Additional featurettes include the
publicity, music, and sound design for the film, along with a featurette
of how hard it is to "reach the audience" in a ghost tale such
as this. if you ask me, they succeeded.
Deleted scenes are the penultimate extra
feature of a DVD, and the penultimate such deletion is an alternate
ending. Said alternate ending is particularly disappointing --as Shyamalan
attests in an introduction-- in that it is Willis' best scene, and one
which would have given him the nomination --if not the Oscar-- he
deserved. In it the film ends with a video clip of Malcolm and Anna's
wedding, where a teary-eyed Malcolm tells how much he loves Anna. However,
as Shyamalan also attests, there is a need to end the movie with a happy
note, not a tearful one, and in the end this extended finale was cut, to
only the conversation between Anna and Malcolm. That's all I can say
without spoiling part --if not all- of a truly brilliant plot twist in
this film.
Three additional deletions are
offered. One is titled "toy soldiers," where Malcolm witnesses
Cole playing with his toy soldiers, with an almost realistic view of each
soldier. This scene is intriguing in its insinuation that some of Cole's
"ghost" friends were soldiers who shared their life story,
though as Shyamalan explains, it was too much information, too soon. The
second deletion is a "visit to Mr. Marschal," which is a whole 7
minutes of deleted footage where Mr. Marschal was some odd old man near
Cole's home, who in the end, Cole helps deal with a problem thanks to his
"sixth sense." The third deletion is related to this --a
"Return to Mr. Marschal," where Malcolm learns that Marschal is
a better man thanks to Cole's knowledge he game him via his late wife, and
in the end Malcolm learns it's best that Cole embrace his gift instead of
trying to avoid it.
With all the above having been on the
original "Collector's Edition" DVD as well as the new Vista
Series edition, you might ask: what is new? Well, not unlike most two-disc
offerings these days, you're given more behind the scenes footage than
you'll ever need. These include "Reflections from the set,"
Moving Pictures: The Storyboard Process," and an additional,
collectible storyboard sequence. best of all is a "Documentary on the
Paranormal" hosted by Shyamalan himself. Is this worth an additional
price? Well, maybe not. Luckily, this Vista Series disc is being sold at
the same price as the original (singular) disc, so there's no need for
such questions. You're basically getting a ton of added featurette footage
for free!
However, extras notwithstanding, this is
still a fine addition to any DVD shelf. Its special editions may not come
with free comic books or a snazzy pair of bookends, though it's still
worthy of being placed within those bookends, or to sway you from reading
that comic book for two hours. The Sixth Sense was a fine first
offering from Shyamalan. I look forward to seeing everything he
does, for many years to come.
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title) to order this DVD
| All text, Title
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copyright 1999-2001; all rights reserved. Picture of DVD cover is used only for the purpose of review (and to make shopping for
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