[BretLudwig]

What "The Happening" is actually about
A few excerpts from my review of the eco-disaster film "The Happening" in
the new issue of The American Conservative.

"Spoiler Alert!!!! (Although, I'm not sure that "The Happening" is all
that spoilable.)

M. Night Shyamalan, an Indian immigrant raised in suburban
Philadelphia, is a Crunchy Con auteur who makes mild, relatively wholesome
high-concept genre flicks. His 1999 ghost story, "The Sixth Sense," was an
instant landmark, while his 2002 alien invasion movie "Signs" was another
popular New Age parable about the need for faith and family. His lesser
hit in 2004, "The Village," offered an empathetic fable about middle class
flight from urban crime. ...

As the mass suicides spread throughout the Northeast, a Philadelphia
biology teacher (Mark Wahlberg of "The Departed"), his wife (Zooey
Deschanel), and math teacher best friend (John Leguizamo) flee randomly
through the ominously verdant hay fields of rural Pennsylvania. After much
brow-furrowing, Wahlberg discerns the horrible truth. We polluting humans
are enduring the righteous vengeance of €¦ plants.

... The aesthetics of "The Happening" are so unappealing that the
entire movie, originally entitled "The Green Effect," might be a covert
satire on greenhouse effect alarmism over global warming. The
environmentalists in the film appear demented, and there's little sign of
pollution. Pennsylvania looks plenty green.

But can a movie be a satire if it's not funny?

More plausibly, "The Happening" could be an allergy allegory. Every
year, in the greener parts of America, plants do afflict millions, making
them feel like life isn't worth living. Shyamalan burbled, "One of the
things that I guess was in the back of my mind was that one in six
emergency room cases for the United States is asthma-related. I'm going,
"What? €¦ Everybody's like wheezing and there's a line outside the
nurse's office for an inhaler. What's that about? We're becoming allergic
to what?"

Perhaps that's why Shyamalan has his normally likeable stars act as if
their heads are stuffed up and they're just not in the mood to deal with
the end of the world. With the state their sinuses are in, the apocalypse
leaves them irked and ineffectual. Maybe they could cope if Armageddon
were postponed until the pollen count is lower."



http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/06/w...lly-about.html

--
Message posted using http://www.talkaboutaudio.com/group/rec.audio.opinion/
More information at http://www.talkaboutaudio.com/faq.html