The Amazing Six Sense Essay, Research Paper
The Amazing Sixth Sense!
The 1999 movie, The Sixth Sense, both written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, with its amazing final twist, is one of the best thrillers ever made. Bruce Willis and 10-year-old Haley Joel Osment make an incredible connection that is rarely seen in other movies. It is to Willis credit to allow the little boy to shine in virtually every scene. Bruce Willis plays Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a well-known child psychologist who is living a happy life with his understanding wife (Ollivia Williams). One night a man breaks into their house and claims to be a former patient of Malcolm s. He reminds Malcolm that he was always scared and Malcolm failed to help him. He fires a gun at Dr. Crowe and then shoots himself in the head. A few months pass, and Malcolm recovers. But he is not the same person that he used to be. His career is turning into a failure and his marriage seems to be falling apart.
Meanwhile, he takes an interest in the case of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), an 8-year-old boy whose case is a lot like the former patient who shot him. Cole suffers from a mood disorder and spends a lot of his time alone at church. He is called a freak by his classmates at school. Cole asks Dr. Crowe to help him not to be scared. His divorced mom (Toni Collete) often notices scratches on Cole s body. Malcolm spends a lot of his time with Cole and tries very hard to help him. Finally, Cole decides to tell Malcolm his secret. He can see the dead. They often come to him and sometimes physically hurt him. But in order to better understand Cole s case, Malcolm goes back to study the case of his former patient. What he finds out, and the final twist of the story are things that should be kept secret for people who have yet to see the amazing The Sixth Sense.
The Sixth Sense is the movie that s worth sticking with, writes Jay Carr in Boston Globe. He states that everything remains unclear and unanswered until the surprise ending. The final twist makes us to go back and review the events in the movie from a new perspective, and then realize how everything adds up beautifully together. Then Carr focuses on astounding performance by Haley Joel Osment. His scared and pained face perfectly delivers Cole s character. According to Carr, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan does a great job in creating terrifying scenes, yet he does not sacrifice the greatness of the story with throwing too much horror scenes into the film. It is the only horror film this year that underplays its horrors, Carr writes.
The review by Jay Carr from Boston Globe is a fair and accurate review. It offers a plot summary, just so much to introduce the readers into the mood of the film. Then it criticizes the characters and describes why they are believable. It does not reveal the final twist of the movie, but definitely talks about its significance. In fact, it is the surprise ending that makes this film a good movie.
Cole is a brave kid. He has kept his secret for a long time. But he cannot handle it anymore, mostly because he cannot see his concerned mother continue to suffer. At school his classmates call him a freak and he confronts ghosts everyday. He chooses to stay at church to calm himself. Supposedly, dead people won t bother the young Cole at church. He constantly confronts the dead walking around, and that is frustrating for him. He draws scary scenes (a man with a screwdriver in the neck) and often writes lines and lines of foul language. Haley Joel Osment (Cole) gives one of the best child performances of all time. Osment is believable as Cole. His scared and disturbed face throughout the movie gives us just a little glimpse of what Cole goes through everyday. But despite the scared face, he manages to remain likable just like a regular kid. The best scenes of the movie are the parts with Osment and Willis together. Their performances simply complement each other.
Toni Collete (Cole s mom) gives an impressive performance despite her rather insignificant role in the movie. Cole s divorced mom is frustrated and yet desperate to help her child. She has also noticed supernatural things about Cole. She constantly asks Cole to tell her why is he scared but Cole does not reveal his secret for her until the end of the movie. The final scene, when Cole finally tells his mom that he can see the dead, is an unforgettable and deeply emotional scene. Both Osment and Collete give an astounding performance throughout the movie, particularly in the final scene.
Foreshadows and clues play an important role in this movie. James Newton Howard provides a soundtrack that does an excellent job in setting the mood and foreshadowing different events in the movie. The color red is specifically used throughout the movie every time there is connection with the supernatural. It is the amazing final twist of the story that makes the all the connections and puts everything together in an unexpected way. Every scene that was questionable the first time will make perfect sense if the movie is viewed for a second time.
The Sixth Sense has a lot of things to say. Its surprising ending reminds us that things are not always the way they appear to be and our understanding could be wrong. Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has crafted a complex story that carries you along each time it changes direction. The Sixth Sense is an intelligent thriller that might have you doubting it at the halfway point; however, all but the most cynical will have their doubts blown away by the remarkable turns of events in its second half. It is a very successful movie and definitely worth watching several times.
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