The Village

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 2.0

Individuals in a small village are forbidden from leaving the area for fear of monsters in red cloaks that lurk in the surrounding woods, but when someone in the group becomes mortally wounded and needs medical attention, the town blind girl (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the one who leaves Plato's Cave, goes through the woods and discovers "the truth." The 'twist' to the film is among the absolute dumbest - and least plausible - concepts for a movie I've ever heard and justly deserving of critical scorn, but the film looks good (thanks to Roger Deakins) and the cast appears to buy into it, so that has to count for something. Maybe next time Shyamalan can make the art film he has locked inside himself instead of this lame kind of political allegory ('fake' terrorists that the government - here, the 'elders' - use to calm the masses; isolationist mentality - the 'fenced in area' - being a defense against further emotional assault).