The Happening exploits your false sense of comfort
A pervasive, general sense of unease defines M. Night Shymalan's eerie new oeuvre
By Alexa Weibel
Published: June 26th, 2008 | 9:05am
Central Park marks the dawn of the "happenings" — after phase one, "confused speech," physical disorientation follows and the population comes to a halt and freezes still, trailed by a final fatal stage, most disturbingly showcased in the film's notorious construction-site suicides — with some seriously dismantling imagery for a post-9/11 spectacle. As news of these occurrences travel, we're introduced to protagonist Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), an eternally tranquil high school science teacher in the midst of pondering the disappearance of the honeybees with his students. Shymalan warns audiences as, in a charmingly traditional premonition, Elliot advises a "respectful awe for the laws of nature."
Throughout the film, everyone is eerily placid — the emergency teacher meeting is uncomfortably halcyon, marked by the vacant announcement, "There seems to be an event happening." The city is evacuated, and Elliot joins Julian (John Leguizamo, impeccable as ever as the acerbic statistic-spitting math teacher) and his daughter, and spacey wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) at the train station to evacuate the city. Julian decides to rescue his wife, imploring Elliot to take care of his daughter. When the train slows to a halt in Filbert, Pennsylvania, the conductor announces that all contact has been lost, and the misfit trio find themselves in no-town, USA – a chillingly picture-perfect American suburb that hosts the majority of the action. The alarmed passengers pour into the local diner, as rumors fly and anxiety rises, only fueled by technology — a cell-phone video of a man feeding his own limbs to a lion borders the film on camp for a split second before returning the atmosphere to the placidly eerie — as they plot to find out a way to escape "the Happening."
This entertaining, modern-day <i>The Birds</i> features appropriately slow action — aside from a few shocking scenes, the suspense relies strongly on character association and crucial visceral sounds. What distinguishes the film, however, is not merely its lack of shock-horror but rather its subtle sense of humor — Shymalan integrates his personality into his oeuvre. There's the bumbling army buffoon, with a desire to take initiative but no clue what to do, aside from sputtering catch phrases like "cheese and crackers!" Elliot and Alma, too, both have their share of comedic one-liners, with nothing topping Elliot's anxiety as the boys he's taken under his wing aggressively bang on the windows of a boarded house in want of food. Perplexed but ever-cool, Elliot asks, "What are we, a gang now?" Meanwhile, flighty Alma is dodging the phone calls of a pesky suitor, finally informing him, "We ate tiramisu together; that is it!"
Despite momentary comical relief, Shymalan is a genius of timing and suspense — and the uneasy tone of the film makes one question the entirety of the otherwise-banal surroundings. His knack for toying with and exploiting an intrinsic fear of the everyday mundane makes the film a masterpiece worthy of Hitchcock's approval.
Issue #35
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