On "The Sixth Sense" (1999)

Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in a suspenseful moment of "The Sixth Sense"

Star Rating: ***½
"The Sixth Sense" combines two kinds of thrillers: psychological and supernatural. The result is a very effective and clever movie that writer director M. Night Shyamalan should be very proud of.

The film opens with child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) who is shot in the abdomen by a former patient of his, whom Crowe had failed to help. A year or so later, Crowe finds himself working with a troubled eight-year-old named Cole Sear, played by Haley Joel Osment. Cole is a bright, yet depressed and isolated child who finds very little pleasure in anything. His mother, (Toni Collette), tries everything she can to find out what is troubling Cole and to cheer him up. Finally, Cole tells Dr. Crowe the truth—he sees ghosts “all the time”. These ghosts, who don’t know that they’re dead, get Cole to do things for them and Cole wants them to leave him alone.

This would make an interesting movie on its own, but the story is as much about the psychologist, Dr. Crowe, as it as about Cole. Dr. Crowe is troubled by two things. The prospect of his professional failure with his attempted assassin drives him to work harder than ever, shutting out all else, including his wife Anna, (Olivia Williams). Crowe loves his wife and is afraid of losing her but he is so preoccupied with his job that their relationship only becomes more and more distant.

Second to Dr. Crowe is Cole, who is supposedly troubled by the recent end to his parents’ marriage, but who finally explains that his unhappiness is due to his visits from the dead. Thanks to a good script and a good actor, (Osment), Cole’s personality is very tangible to the audience. You actually care about him and want to see that his problems get solved. "The Sixth Sense" is a very somber movie and borders on being a little too somber, but it is still enjoyable nonetheless. At the end of the long rope of suspense is a twist ending that is so cunning and brilliant that if you disliked the first half of the movie, you will enjoy the second half.

Aside from the depth of characters, the most “haunting” thing about "The Sixth Sense" are the ghosts that Cole sees. In the beginning, the audience cannot see them, but after Cole tells Crowe about his special ability, we also get the “sixth sense” and can see them too. These ghosts are nerve racking. They aren’t white, transparent creatures; they look exactly like regular people. Some have rather unfortunate injuries—such as an adolescent boy having a large bullet-wound in the back of his head. Some of the ghosts are scary because of the circumstances that include them in the scene. One of the most disturbing images in the movie is when Cole sees three people hanging dead from the ceiling in his school. He desperately tries to make Dr. Crowe, who is present with him in this scene, see the ghosts and begs him to “please make them leave!”

"The Sixth Sense" features a very Alfred Hitchcock-like premise. The most notable “Hitchcockian” trademark is the twist ending, a trait featured in most Hitchcock movies. For example, Hitchcock’s "Vertigo" has a similar premise to "The Sixth Sense"—a troubled detective shadowing a woman who is believed to be possessed by the spirit of her great grandmother; the same way that the troubled psychologist follows Cole and how Cole is visited by ghosts. Like "Vertigo", "The Sixth Sense" is a very suspenseful exercise with somber characters dogged by personal troubles that end in a climax that boggles the viewer’s mind. Shyamalan even makes a cameo appearance as a doctor in one scene. It’s getting easier and easier to decipher where he gets his inspiration.

"The Sixth Sense" isn’t the new "Vertigo", and Shyamalan isn’t the new Hitchcock. But the movies carry enough similarities that they make each other more interesting. "The Sixth Sense" is a frightening, touching and intelligent film that deserves a lot of praise. Mr. Shyamalan, you’ve done good.