Welcome back to Movie Recaps.
Today I will show you a drama, mystery, thriller film from 2004, titled The Village.
Spoilers ahead!
Watch out and take care.
In what appears to be the 19th century, there's an isolated Pennsylvania village in the middle
of the woods.
The story begins with them holding a funeral for the son of August Nicholson, one of the
village elders.
After the burial, all the villagers have lunch together and chief elder Edward Walker offers
comforting words.
In the middle of the meal, some strange noises are heard coming from the forest, making Noah
Percy, a man with a developmental disability, laugh and clap with excitement.
We then get a montage of the village's daily life: they all work together in harmony.
Among their daily habits, we see them burying anything red and sending a man up a watchtower
every night.
On the water, we also see the reflection of a passing mysterious hooded figure wearing
red.
One morning, Edward is approaching the school, as he is the teacher there, only to find the
kids outside in a circle.
They're looking at the body of an animal, bloody and missing its fur.
The kids swear they didn't bring it there.
Everyone goes inside and Edward asks his class who could've possibly done such a heinous
act, the kids answer with "Those We Don't Speak Of" because they are meat-eating monsters.
Edward tells them it makes no sense since the village has a truce with them: they don't
enter their forest and the monsters, in return, don't enter the village.
That afternoon, the village elders have a meeting.
They're discussing possible festivities when Lucius Hunt, son of elder Alice Hunt, requests
to see them.
Lucius has written down what he wants to say and proceeds to read it to them: after reassuring
them his mother has nothing to do with this, he says the death of the child has weighted
on his thoughts, so he wants permission to cross the forest and go to other towns so
he can acquire some new medicines.
He thinks the monsters won't attack him because creatures can sense emotions, and Lucius is
pure of intention.
The request is denied.
Later at night, Alice asks him what he's even thinking about, he just says he's going to
make a friend company in the watchtower.
The guard for the night is Finton Coin.
Lucius joins him there and asks him what he thinks of other towns, Finton replies they're
wicked places where wicked people live.
He also thanks Lucius for coming, since he isn't supposed to be there.
The next morning, another animal body with no fur is found in town.
The elders hold a meeting with the villagers and tell them this must be some predator like
a coyote or wolf, suffering from madness.
It couldn't have been Those We Don't Speak Of because they're rather big, they would've
known they were in the village.
On their way home from the meeting, Edward chats with his daughter Kitty.
She mentions she's in love and wants permission to get married, Edward looks displeased with
the fact the boy isn't there with her to ask properly.
Kitty explains she hasn't even asked the boy yet because she wants his blessing before
saying anything and mentions the boy's identity: Lucius.
Edward gives them his blessing.
Kitty rushes to meet with Lucius and confesses his love to him.
Lucius turns her down, so Kitty returns to her house and spends the evening crying on
her blind sister Ivy's lap while she sings to her.
Meanwhile, Lucius gathers wood and takes it to August's house, where August wonders if
his son and Lucius had bonded because neither talked much, he also calls him kind.
At the same time, at the edge of town, a group of boys is playing a game of bravery: you
must stand on a stump, facing away from the forest and with your arms stretched, and see
how much you can last before getting scared.
The current player swears he hears noises in the woods, but he stays on his spot.
Back to Lucius, August is telling him that one can run from sorrow but sorrow will still
find you because it can smell you like a dog.
Then he looks at a mysterious black box in the corner.
Then we cut back to the boys again, who finally are running away from the area when the noises
prove to be too much.
Morning comes, and Ivy is being called to deal with Noah, who is hitting other boys
with a stick.
He stops as soon as she asks him to, then she takes him to stare at a special house
where he'll be locked in if he doesn't listen.
They strike a deal and he promises he won't be hitting anyone again.
Now that's over, they decide to spend time together by racing up the hill to the resting
rock.
Noah asks her not to cheat, but she distracts him and cheats anyway.
They make it to the rock and find Lucius already there.
He shares a snack with them and Ivy tells him how much her sister cried when he turned
her down.
She also explains that she was able to tell Lucius is there because a handful of people
give the faintest color, her father has it too.
When Noah suddenly leaves to go after a bird, Lucius tells Ivy she runs like a boy.
She thanks him for that, then confesses she knows why he denied her sister: Lucius likes
her.
She can tell because he's stopped touching her some years ago.
Noah makes it back then and pranks Ivy by putting a little toad on her hand.
Afterward, he retrieves some red berries from her pocket and puts them in her hand as well.
She smiles, enjoying the present, until Lucius points out she's holding the "bad color" that
attracts Those We Don't Speak Of, she says they should bury them.
But now Lucius is worried because he's never seen those berries before and Noah already
had them in his pocket before they arrived.
He asks him where he found them, Noah takes him there.
Hours later, Lucius is reading one of his letters to the elders again.
He tells them about the berries Noah found near a drawing on the resting rock, which
means Noah has been entering the forest all this time without anything happening to him.
This reinforces his belief that the creatures won't attack him either if he does the same
and asks again to be allowed to go to other towns.
The elders don't accept.
Later at night, back in their house, Alice decides to tell Lucius a story about the other
towns.
His father had left for the market and was found naked and robbed on a river days later.
Alice is telling him this so he can understand the nature of what he wants, but he explains
he doesn't want to do this for himself, it's for the sake of the village.
He says he isn't the one with secrets, because secrets are everywhere in the village, like
the black box Alice has and he points at.
Alice says that's for her own good, to be safe from but not forget the evil things from
her past.
Lucius wants to open it, Alice refuses and tells him they should talk to Edward.
Lucius says Edward has feelings for Alice because he never touches her.
The following day, a group of boys wearing yellow cloaks are walking by the border between
village and forest, painting a yellow line on the torch posts that separate both areas.
Lucius is among them, and he doesn't go back with everyone when they're done: he enters
the woods instead.
It doesn't take him long to find the berries, and when he hears some growling, he looks
to his side to see a creature getting away.
He decides to return to the village after that, it's nighttime when he arrives and finds
Ivy outside her house.
She tells him she's heard from her parents that Lucius wants to leave the village for
medicine, she thinks it's noble but not a good idea.
She also informs him that her older sister is getting married, which means now she is
free to receive interest from anyone.
We cut to the watchtower then.
Finton hears a noise and opens the hatch, believing it to be Lucius - but it's one of
the monsters.
So after some hesitation, he starts ringing the bell to alarm the village.
Everyone in town is running back to their houses to hide.
While Lucius helps villagers to get to safety, Kitty rushes Noah, the kids and Ivy into the
basement, but Ivy stays at the door, waiting for Lucius.
She extends her hand in front of her and an approaching monster is about to take it when
suddenly Lucius shows up, grabs her hand and drags Ivy inside to hide with the rest of
the family in the basement.
The next day, red markings are found on the doors of all houses.
The elders are holding a meeting with the villagers to try to figure out what happened:
the markings are obviously a warning, but the creatures never attacked without a reason
before.
When elders ask if anyone knows anything, a written note is handed to them: it's a confession
from Lucius, admitting he went into the woods and was seen by the creatures.
Edward goes to the back of the room where Lucius is crying and tells him he's been fearless.
A couple of days later, the villagers are celebrating Kitty's wedding.
There's a lot of food, decorations and dancing, but also a little ritual where two men wearing
yellow cloaks leave some meat on a rock for the monsters.
When Alice congratulates Edward for his daughter's marriage, she offers him her hand to shake,
but he doesn't take it, confirming Lucius' theory.
Everyone is having fun at the party until the screaming of some kids is heard.
The little boys are brought to Edward, who asks them what happened - they tell him they
saw the monsters in the village, leaving more warnings.
They think the creatures want them to leave.
The party is canceled, Edward makes everyone go home together for protection.
What they find in the village is terrifying: there are dead animals everywhere.
Livestock has been taken and skinned, the hides and feathers are missing.
There are marks on the barn door so high a coyote couldn't have done it, this confuses
the elders.
Meanwhile, Ivy is awoken in the middle of the night and goes outside: there is Lucius,
sitting at her porch.
She sits next to him and tells him there will be an inquiry tomorrow to find out how the
border was breached.
Lucius wants her to go inside since it's cold and unsafe, she changes the subject.
First, she asks if Lucius thinks she's a tomboy, then she mentions the game of bravery, to
which Lucius holds the record.
She asks him how he can be so brave, to which he replies he concentrates on what needs to
be done.
Then she wonders if he'll dance with her on their wedding night and why he doesn't express
his thoughts more.
Lucius gets a bit angry then, if he wanted to speak, he would, and if he wanted to dance
with her, he would ask her to.
Most importantly, he admits he does get scared sometimes too when he thinks of Ivy coming
to harm, that's why he's on that porch: he fears for her safety above anyone else's.
Finally he says yes, he'll dance with her on their wedding night.
Then they kiss.
The next day, during the inquiry, one of the villagers asks Alice if the news about Ivy
and Lucius is true, Alice confirms it is.
Meanwhile, Ivy is asking her sister for her blessing, because she doesn't want to do anything
to hurt her and she's still more important than a boy.
Kitty does give the couple their blessing and wishes them happiness.
While the sisters talk, Lucius is visited by Noah, who looks clearly upset by the news.
Lucius knows Noah has feelings for Ivy too but he isn't allowed to say much before Noah
stabs him twice.
We cut to the Percys, who are getting ready for the town meeting when Noah arrives at
the house covered in blood and calls it the bad color.
The elders are immediately told about the accident and they make all villagers start
searching for the injured person.
As soon as she hears it was Noah who did it, Ivy guesses who could've been hurt and hurries
to Lucius' house to find his unconscious body on the floor.
She crouches next to him and hugs him, and when Edward arrives, she tells him she can't
see Lucius' color.
A couple of hours later, one of the elders is telling the villagers Lucius is hanging
in there but he can pass at any time, so everyone should pray for him.
Feeling angry after hearing this, Ivy goes to visit Noah to the house he's been locked
at and slaps him repeatedly, his father has to drag her out by force.
Noah is heard crying out and hitting things when he's left alone and locked again.
Sometime later, Ivy talks to her father and tells her that if Lucius dies, so will she,
so she asks for permission to go to the towns for medicines.
We cut to Edward talking to the doctor to know more details about Lucius' condition
before taking a decision: he's got an infection and they can only pray for it.
Edward pushes the doctor to give him a better answer on what could be done if they had resources,
the doctor admits Lucius will have a better chance if they can contain the infection.
Alice takes Edward away from the house to talk to him privately, guessing what he has
in mind and reminding him he swore an oath he must respect like the rest of the elders
do.
Edward doesn't listen and when Alice starts crying, he hugs her.
Edward returns to Ivy and takes her with him for a walk, where he tells her his father
had a knack for business but it was dangerous because money is a wicked thing that turns
people's hearts black, that's why they don't have it in the village.
Her grandfather died of a shot in the head while he was sleeping and Edward is telling
Ivy all this so she can understand what he's about to show her.
They reach an old shed that mustn't be used, and he asks her to try not to scream before
he takes her inside.
Next we cut to Ivy getting a bag ready for a trip and telling Lucius she'll leave to
fetch some medicines for him.
Meanwhile, Edward meets with the other elders to tell them about this.
It's back to Ivy then, she's waiting by the village borders wearing a yellow cloak.
Finton and Christop join her wearing the same cloak.
They get closer to the woods and Ivy raises a hand to show a little bag she's holding
before the three of them step in.
They only make it a few steps in before Finton stops Ivy to tell her Christop isn't following
them anymore.
She tells Christop they don't need to be scared because they have the magic rocks, and Christop
wonders why they didn't hear of these rocks before.
Finton begs him not to leave them, but Christop thinks it's too dangerous, so he goes back
to the village.
A few hours later, while they're waiting for the rain to stop, Finton sees and hears something
among the trees.
He also gets scared and decides to go back, leaving Ivy alone.
Crying, she drops the magic rocks on the ground.
A flashback starts then that shows what had happened in the shed: there are monsters inside
- or that's what Ivy thinks at first, they're actually costumes.
Edward explains it is all a lie.
There used to be rumors about creatures living in the woods on the books he used to teach
back in the towns.
The screaming in the woods, the taking away the meat offering, the furless animal bodies,
the drills - all of it was the elders' farce, a plan to keep people away from the woods.
Their lies weren't meant to harm, but Lucius' situation went too far, which is why he's
making an exception for her.
He gives her a pocket watch and a piece of paper with the names of the medicines she
needs to acquire before giving her instructions on how to navigate the woods and reach the
towns.
She mustn't tell anyone in the outside world about their village.
Then Edward visits Alice to tell her he's sent Ivy to the towns because this is all
he can give her.
We cut back to the Edward meeting with the elders, who aren't happy about this decision.
They accuse him of jeopardizing everything they've made, Edward reminds them that they
built this town to have hope and he can't allow another elder to lose their child.
He also reminds them they won't live forever, Ivy and Lucius are the perfect people to take
their place one day.
August gives in and tells everyone to let Ivy go.
Back in the present, Ivy continues her trip through the woods.
Not being able to see the ground, she falls into a hole, and only manages to save herself
by hanging on a branch.
She carefully climbs out and rests against a fallen tree for a second before going back
to her walking.
She doesn't make it far before she hears a noise.
After throwing a branch in that direction, the noises get worse, so she starts running
away until she stops in the middle of the red berries field.
A growl makes her turn around: one of the monsters is behind her.
She tells herself it's not real, but the creature goes after her, so she starts running again.
Eventually she bumps into the fallen tree from before, and that gives her an idea.
She stands still and opens her arms, just like the game the village boys played on the
stump, and when the monster is about to catch her, she steps aside and makes it fall into
the hole.
Back in the village, the Percys are visiting Noah, but they don't find him in the house.
What they do find it's an empty hole on the floor, which means Noah had found the hidden
monster costume there and ran away with it.
When we cut back to the hole, we effectively see the mask had come loose and it was Noah
that had chased after Ivy.
He passes away in the hole.
Ivy continues to walk until she finally finds a road.
After leaving her cloak and her bag on the ground, she quickly follows the road until
she comes across a very tall wall that she climbs to reach the other side, finally leaving
the woods.
Back in the village, the elders are opening their black boxes to remember their pasts
and the reason why they created the village: they used to live in the city and were all
victims of some form of violence, they met in a grief counseling clinic.
Edward recruited them to create a place where they would be protected from any aspect of
the outside world.
A group picture Edward is looking at reveals something important: this isn't the 19th century.
It's the 21st.
Back to Ivy, she's landing on the other side of the wall when a jeep with the "Walker Wildlife
Preserve" logo parks next to her.
A park ranger named Kevin comes out of it and believing Ivy is an intruder, tells her
she isn't allowed to be there.
Ivy tells him she comes from the woods, which he has trouble believing, and asks him for
his help: she hands him the lists of medicines and the pocket watch to pay for them.
When he understands someone is hurt, he accepts to help, since they have those medicines in
the guard shacks.
Ivy is surprised by his kindness, she didn't expect it from the people in the outside world.
Kevin gets back in the jeep and drives to the guard shack, where his superior receives
him with some advice.
He reminds him it's an easy job, they just need to keep people away from the animal sanctuary
and not disturb the woods.
Kevin shouldn't make conversation with any intruder, only patrol.
His superior still remembers when planes were paid not to fly over that area some years
ago, the press had caused him enough stress.
While the man goes back to reading his newspaper, Kevin steals some medical supplies and borrows
the maintenance ladder.
Soon after that, Ivy is back in the woods wearing her yellow cloak and returning home,
while Kevin is on the other side of the wall with the ladder Ivy used to climb back and
her pocket watch hanging on the rear mirror.
Moments later, the news of Ivy's return with the medicine reaches the elders, who are waiting
next to Lucius' bed.
They are also told Ivy was attacked by a creature and she killed it, which greatly upsets Noah's
parents.
Edward tells them they'll find him and give him a proper burial, they'll also tell the
others a creature did it.
Noah's sacrifice has made the stories real and given them a chance to continue this place
if that's what all the elders want.
They all agree with this plan.
The movie ends with Ivy entering the room and grabbing Lucius's hand to tell him she's
back.