The Happening

I am about the biggest M. Night Shyamalan fan one can possibly be. All his films are dear to me, and contain beauty and truth. Thus, I had astronomical expectations for The Happening.

Night's first R-rated film stars Marky Mark Wahlberg as Elliot Moore, a teacher (yeah) in Philadelphia (all of Night's films take place in or around there). He is married to Alma (Zooey Deschanel). One morning they are made aware of a strange happening, which may be a terrorist attack, in New York City. Everyone is dying of self-inflicted wounds (people jumping off buildings, stabbing themselves, shooting themselves, etc.). This is caused by a chemical reaction that affects the brain and causes it to reverse the human self-preservation urge. Philly is close to NYC so they flee the city, along with everyone else. But along the way more and more cities and smaller towns are being hit with this chemical. Thus, everyone is on the run.

Shyamalan has the uncanny ability to use strange/horrific/supernatural backdrops to say profound things about humanity. One such strand of thematic truth in The Happening has to do with relationships/marriage. At the beginning of the film Alma is having an emotional affair and Elliot is somewhat clueless. Later in the film she comes clean, thinking that her death is imminent (it is sad how much we keep hidden from each other until the last possible moment, when our only motivation for truth-telling is being spared the "fires of hell"). When the Moores are on the run, they eventually find their way to a crazy old lady's house. Yet, she gives them and us a little slice of profundity. She asks "Who's chasing who?" Yes, they are married, but someone is always chasing someone else in a relationship, at no time are two people at completely the same place. Interesting point, and I think it might be true. The interplay between these two, in regards to love and what it really means, is one of the highlights of this film.

Now on to the actually thing that happens. *spoiler warning* We first meet Elliot as he is explaining to his class the phenomenon of honey bees disappearing. They discuss why this might be happening, but eventually come to the conclusion that sometimes nature does things that we can't understand, it is outside of our knowledge. This mystery carries over to the "happening." There are a few clues though. One significant thing is that these "attacks" start occurring in parks. They slowly move to smaller places, towns, then villages, etc. Eventually the Moores meet up with the crazy hot dog guy, who has a theory that the plants are doing this. He says that plants cannot fight back when attacked, or run away. Therefore, the only defense mechanism they have is to secrete a chemical to kill its predators (like the red tide). The plants are apparently secreting this killer chemical in unison to kill off their predators, humans. This theory is later discussed, then possibly dismissed, at the end of the film. But the closing scene confirms it to be true. This theory brings up the question "Why are humans the predators?" We all know that we pollute. And now, depending on who you listen to, there is global warming. Humans no longer live in balance with nature, we take from it and destroy it. Preservation is merely an afterthought. And this aspect of humanity is getting worse (we are depleting the oil reserves, destroying animal habitat, etc.). The interesting thing about this phenomenon is that we don't usually think of plants as creations that have any personality or rights. It is pretty easy to get people to care about spotted owls, abandoned puppies, or humpback whales, but what about ferns or ficuses? And let's be honest, we don't want to save the rain forest for the rain forest's sake, but for our oxygen, etc. All of God's creation should be respected, and everything has the right to defend itself against destruction, right? It's a really creative idea, the planet fighting back against it's parasite. There are many clues hidden throughout the film to remind us of how we treat the planet and ourselves (nuclear smoke stacks, giant homes in the country with a sign that says "you deserve this," and a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas under a TV, to name a few). Not only are we destroying everything else around us, we are also destroying ourselves as a species. This point is driven home by the fact that suicide, not murder, is the main symptom of the chemical weapon sent by the trees/grass/etc. I believe that this film is trying to make a comment about more that just Global Warming or the environment. It is saying "We are killing everything, including ourselves. We cannot live this way any longer."

M. Night Shyamalan is the epitome of creativity in Hollywood, he is one of the few that writes, produces and directs his own material. And The Happening is nothing if not unique. Yet, I found myself disappointed with the film for many reasons. First of all, it did not feel like a Night film. It lacked the thematic depth of his other films. Also, instead of being Hitchcockian and playing with our minds by not showing us something, here Shyamalan falls victim to the current Hollywood tendency to leave nothing to the imagination. His films are not horror films, they just use that as a background to say something much more important. Yet sometimes this felt like a B-Horror film (it could have been called Attack of the Killer Trees). The dialogue was campy, and I found myself thinking about how the next character was going to kill themselves, but maybe that's the point. Or maybe I'm stretching it. I don't know what to think about this movie. This did happen to be Night's funniest film to date though, especially the talking to the fake plant part and the pharmacist/cough syrup dialogue. Congrats to Night for doing whatever he wants in his movies, not bowing to the critics or the general public. Yet, I feel like now he has even alienated his hardcore fans, such as myself. My initial reaction to The Happening was extreme disappointment and anger. Maybe the film deserves a closer look. I find myself firmly up in the air.