The suspense thriller, The Others, is one of those ghost stories that in this review, not much of the plot will be revealed because it would just ruin the movie. Unlike The Sixth Sense, that movie is still fabulous once you know the shock ending but you would hate for someone to ruin it for you. The Others starring Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge! & Practical Magic) as Grace takes so much time building the plot and setting up the shocking end that to have it spoiled before seeing the entire film would just plain ruin it. In fact the Others moves so slow that I was often bored and concerned that tying up the ending would not happen and leave me disappointed. The director Alejando Amenabar did a brilliant job with how he had this movie filmed. This movie was almost entirely done by candlelight. This set the stage for the eeriness of the house and the situations. In fact sunshine or daylight was made out to be far more scarier than darkness. This was a clever device. Just like The Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan used the color red, Amenabar used daylight to scare the audience. As for the plot, like I said more than half the movie was used just to build the suspense and begin the terror but there never was a jump out and scare you scene, but you were on the edge of your seat and some did gasp loudly.

The Others is set in 1945 in Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The film begins with Kidman screaming out in her sleep. Then three working class people step up to the door and ring the bell. Fionnula Flanagan (The Waking of Ned Devine) as Mrs. Mills, Elaine Cassidy as the mute Lydia and Eric Sykes as Mr. Tuttle the groundskeeper. Before they can finish their sentence Kidman pulls them inside and begins a full-scale tour of the 50-room house and her strict rules. You cannot enter one room before you close and lock the previous door. At all times the doors must be closed and locked. The curtains must also remain closed at all times. There is no electricity because there is no need for it. Since it was cut off most of the time during the war they learned to get along fine with out it. Kidman is shocked that servants have answered her ad so quickly but we soon learn that the letter to the newspaper to place the ad was never picked up so these people have showed up out of no where. The last servants just left and did not even come back for their pay according to Kidman. Flanagan states they used to work at this house and it was the best time of her life. We then meet Kidman’s children. Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) they have a rare skin disease that prevents them from being in light stronger than candle light. If they are exposed to such a light their skin begins to blister and their throat swells up preventing them from breathing and they will die. This is why you can’t open the curtains and one door must be closed and locked before you enter another room to keep out all light. We also learn that Kidman’s husband Charles (Christopher Eccleston, Gone in Sixty Seconds) has gone off to war but had not returned home yet. We never really see a ghost but we do hear noise and see evidence that something had been there. Kidman is in complete denial of anything happening and punishes Anne for lying. When Flanagan suggests that sometimes the world of the living gets caught up with the world of the dead Kidman gets upset and is almost ready to believe something is happening. What I have left out is she is a devout Catholic and is teaching her children about limbo, purgatory and Hell as places in between Heaven and rapture. In her frustration she leaves the house to find the priest that won’t visit to have the house blessed. Kidman gets lost in a thick fog and walks into her missing husband Charles. This is where I will stop because you now know her husband has come home and the movie really starts to move at this point.

Even though I was frequently bored and felt too much time was taken to build the plot the eventual suspense and delightfully shocking ending made it completely worth it. The performance of all the characters was very realistic and Kidman was exceptional as the tortured Grace. I give The Others a nine on the About-Movies.com scale.

Last updated: Saturday, October 28, 2006 05:37:40 PM

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