The Happening
One never really knows what to expect of an M Night Shaymalan film anymore except that there is going to be a twist and subtle hints throughout the film alluding to what will happen. When “The Happening” was released I waited to be told the ending before I viewed the film. It is my personal opinion that an M. Night film cannot be fully appreciated for its message until you know the outcome and are able to analyze what the director is saying beneath the surface.
One can not do this while viewing the film as a story because one is usually either A) outraged by the twist or B) confused by the twist and no longer able to see what the director is actually trying to convey. This is evident in the Sixth Sense. We believe that that story is building for a horrific confrontation with the young boy and his friend. However the story is really about a mother needing to connect with her child. It is difficult to grasp when we first see the movie because we are expecting a pure horror tale instead of a complex one. The Village was a social commentary. Unfortunately advertisement for the film made it seem as though it were a horror film. The fact that the first act of The Village set the scene so brilliantly as such made it difficult for the audience to see the symbolism in the film.
The Happening is M Night’s first Rated R film and thus we expect more gore and more horror. There is horror but it is not the horror you would see in ghost film. The horror in The Happening is comparable to that in “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. The horror suggests human action is truly darker than anything we can imagine and that its repercussions can have a devastating effect on humanity.
When I first learned (WARNING SPOILER ALERT) that trees were the “villain” in The Happening I was amused and I thought M Night was off his rocker. The trees let loose a neurotoxin that hinders part of the human brain that deals with self-preservation. The result is traumatic as thousands of people off themselves in horrific ways. However I decided to give the film a shot and I am glad that I did. M Night has always had the ability to show the horror of human action and has always had the ability to make a viewer jump at just the right moment. This film does not make a person jump. This film shows the horror a solemn indifferent way. There is a scene early in the movie that shows an officer affected by the neurotoxin shoots himself with his service revolver. The result is that he silently slumps to the ground and a few seconds later a man grabs the revolver and kills himself in the same manner. There is no loud terrible music. The camera does not jump. It simply pans slowly as another person follows suit. At first I could not understand why M Night did not create a score that emphasized the gunshots. The camera and the score seem indifferent to these actions. That is terrifying in its own right.
Later in the film we see a crowd of eerily calm survivors trekking toward a small town in an attempt to escape the “terrorist’s” reach. A mother is on her phone to her daughter in Princeton who seems alert at first. As the phone-call continues the daughter begins to be affected by the neurotoxin and ultimately sticks her arm down her sinks’ garbage disposal. We cannot see this but we can hear it loud and clear. While the mother screams those around her seem apathetic and contemplative.
The ending will be blasted by many but is, in my opinion, well constructed. It perfectly conveys the films message. We learn via two pundits arguing with an expert on television that the Happening only occurred for 24 hours. The expert believes that the neurotoxin released by the trees was a warning to humanity to stop raping the planet. What we see in the pundits’ eyes is apathy once again. They refuse to accept the reality that they were given a second chance. “I’d like to believe you,” says one “but the fact that it occurred solely in the northeast where the CIA is known to be based makes it hard to believe.” The idea that the human race would suffer the wrath of nature and still refuse to reform sheds light on the fact that humans are indeed apathetic to their own survival.
What I like about the Happening is that it causes one to be introspective. We are forced to ask ourselves if we are blatantly abusive and unappreciative of all that we are given from our habitat. We are forced to look at the human species as a whole. Upon further analysis one ultimately comes to the realization that humanity, with the callous, imperialistic, way it lives is actually the films antagonist.
