'The Sixthe Sense' (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)

Title: 'The Sixth Sense'

Release Year: 1999

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette.

Plot: After being shot by a former patient whom he couldn't help as a child, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe tries to amend his mistakes with his new terrified and confused patient, Cole Sear, who in whispers confesses him that he sees dead people.

Review: There's something you must know before I review 'The Sixth Sense'. A couple of years ago, after I said to my sister I wanted to watch 'The Others' (which I had read had a similar ending to 'The Sixth Sense'), she "accidentaly" spoiled me the ending. So making a simple connection, I knew from the very beginning that Willis was dead. I had forgotten it over time, but when Willis is shot at the beginning of the film, the memory just appaeared in my mind.

This way, I saw the movie quite differently. It's like I had watched it for the first time and then, knowing that Malcolm was dead, rewatching it to see how they managed to never show his bloody back, to make the audience forget that he always eats the same, or that he never changes his clothes. And somehow, I also enjoyed that way of watching the film. Anyway, there are several hints that are too big not to see them, even if you don't know the ending, how do you explain that Malcolm never exchanges a word with anyone except Cole? And, most important, when the kid confesses his gift, he adds 'They don't know they're dead'. Isn't it clear enough!?

Malcolm and Cole have a troubled yet endearing relationship

Leaving that behind, you start to understand why Cole says that Malcolm can't help him if precisely it's from appearances like his from what he's escaping. Then you ask yourself why he didn't tell him. I believe that Cole had such a kind heart that he didn't want to break the man's illusion, waiting for him to discover it by himself and accept it (as he does when Cole suggests that he 'talks to his wife while she's sleeping'). The relationship between these two characters is really based on mutual understanding and support. Cole helps Malcolm discover his death and Malcolm contributes to Cole's acceptance of his gift, not as a scary curse but as a possibility to help people who left unfinished businesses in earth (like the girl who was poisoned by her mother).

Cole is constantly visited by dead people ghosts who are looking for help

Finally, the performances are top-notch. Willis does a remarkable leading performance, but it's the young Haley Joel Osment who shines the most. Thanks to him the movie is not only a consequence of screams but a real tale of despair of a poor boy who thinks that he's turning insane, constantly visited by dead people that torture him. The final scene with his mother (an outstanding Toni Collette) is the heartbreaking ultimate reunion of the detached little family. She finally understands that her son's claims to see and listen to dead people are true when he says to her that the answer to her question to her dead mother is 'every day'. Lynn (the mother's name) confesses tearfully that the question is 'Do I make you proud?' This way the film ends, leaving an atypical feeling; a horror movie with a heart and a sensitive ending.

'I see dead people' Haley Joel Osment did an incredible performance in this movie. Two thumbs up; he knocks it out of the park in the film