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Sixth Sense Shines
by Spencer Ross

After hearing Mr. Duclos advertise The Sixth Sense everyday for the first five days of school, a couple of friends and I went to check it out. I went in the theater with the expectations of it being a cheesy psychothriller and a waste of $8.25 however, I came out pleasantly surprised. It truly was a four star movie.

The movie starts off with Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) getting an award from the mayor of Philadelphia for his work in child psychology. Upstairs, an old patient of his, now grown up, is abruptly shown as a breaking-and-entering case, standing disturbed in Dr. Crowe's bathroom. The man feels he wasn't treated properly by Dr. Crowe as a child and that this has led him to a lonely life. He then shoots Dr. Crowe in the chest before killing himself during the camera pan.

The story now shifts emphasis into the following autumn, where Dr. Crowe assumes a new case, hoping to right the wrongs he did for his previous patient. The next hour or so is of Dr. Crowe trying to figure out what is disturbing this boy, Cole Sear (though spelled differently than seer, is still an ironic last name for this movie), played by Haley Joel Osment. Cole sees ghosts everywhere. Now Dr. Crowe has to "cure" the boy, yet also questions whether or not he believes that Cole really sees the ghosts. The ending of Dr. Crowe's resolution with Cole is phenomenally original.

One of the other key subplots is Dr. Crowe's obsession with solving Cole's case. It involves him spending so much time on the case that he drifts away from his wife and she seems to start having an affair. This also sets up nicely for resolution in the end sequences.

The plot is superb as a story, with a build up of the two main characters, a climax, and a resolution, effectively communication an underlying sense of fear throughout the film. Part of this is due to the realistic acting of Haley Joel Osment who, for a very young actor, seems to know what he has to do. He knows how to act; more so than other "actors" his age, such as Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The spontaneous apparitions also keep the audience on their toes as various times, we heard short screams from the audience when one of the apparitions appears throwing up, or another appears with half of her body covered with third degree burns.

I was rather impressed with this movie about a boy who is commonly mislabeled "freak" by his peers and even his teacher. As far as thrillers go, there's a lot more suspense and emotion running through this, than actions and effects. This was by far a much greater movie than the flop I expected it to be, judging by the commercials. Well worth the price of an inflated movie ticket and the hype of a senior English teacher. Go see this one.

9/7/99