The Eye

Chinese. Subtitled. Fantastic. Not The Sixth Sense, even though everybody who sees it will make the comparison.

In fact, it may even be better than The Sixth Sense, with the sheer scope of its theme, and the beauty of the filming. Other movies that are called to mind is Jacob's Ladder and City of Angels. - but the CoA only because of the "angels among us to take us away" ideal, and Jacob's Ladder because of the hidden terrors in our nightmares.

Basically, a blind woman gets a new pair of eyes, but the eyes that she receives is from another young woman who had the power to see ghosts (Hence, the "I see dead people!") aspect, but this is handled so well and so delicately that it's almost painful in the tenderness. For example, when she's at a restaurant and the mother/child come to watch the husband (who keeps their photo behind him) and then the waitress tells our heroine that they come every day, but the man can't see them, even though he refuses to sell the place because he misses them so much and wishes they would come back.

There are some shocking moments as well - some spirits are really angry . . . Ming (I think is her name) wants to learn calligraphy, and on her first lesson, some ghosts jumps at her after snapping "Why are you sitting in my chair?!"

Of course, there is the search for the "meaning" of all this (a rather grand aspect/play on "Why are we here"/possible divine purpose for this gift/curse) in which Ming searches for the donor, with the aid of the young doctor who at first doesn't believe her but then does because she's frankly, beautiful, and he finds himself falling in love with her.

In an American movie, I feel certain that there would have been the obligatory sex scene, but it would have been made "artistic" in the sense that it would show her "seeing" a human body, thus enhancing the tactile touch that she'd been used to all these years, etc. etc. but that's the Americans. None of that here, their love remains pure and in a sense . . . stronger.

The quest ends at some small village - interesting detail: as Ming and the Doctor are at the medical facility, they immediately switch to English in order to communicate with the staff, until they find a doctor who speaks Mandarin. Apparantly there are different forms of Chinese . . . or maybe they were on some island far south . . . apologies, I am woefully ignorant of Asian culture!

But they find the origin of the eyes, which is also the origin of Ming's nightmares about this other girl's room. The girl had been ostracized from her village for being a witch - this gift is not only seeing dead people, but to see also the Angels of Death, who apparently come and stand by a person as they are about to die.

Apparently the girl was driven mad by her inability to convince the villagers of a catastrophic fire that wiped out half the village the next day - what I call the "Cassandra Complex" (See? I'm much more erudite on my Greek mythology!) And hung herself. Hence, the donation of the eyes.

She'd been drawn back to the village, via the dreams, in order for the ghost to reconcile herself with her mother in a confusing but rather touching scene. OK. Good there.

Then we end the movie with a traffic jam, caused by a truck filled with gasoline that's turned over in the road. I don't even mind that it was put there for a "dramatic" ending, because it was so completely well-filmed. This was a chilling piece of cinemetography. The images of the Angels of Death, going up and standing beside each person in the car - and this was done after we had been treated to snippets of conversation from each of these passengers, and in those two or three lines, we, as the audience, had come to have a sense of empathy for characters we hadn't even seen in this movie before.

Ming, of course, sees the angels of death, jumps off the bus and starts running to each car - which looks plausible to us, but from inside the cars the angle is different, and she just looks like a salivating madwoman - the montage with images of the other girl in the village I felt was unnecessary, because the act alone recalled those images - but oh well, editors' decision, I suppose.

Then the image of the key turning, the spark that follows the line down to the spark plug and then the close up on that bit of electricity as it

jumps the gap

and

explosion -

a fireball ripping through the gasoline-fumed air, swallowing car after car - then the close-up of the burning specks of dust that hit Ming's open eyes just as her doctor knocks her to the ground and the fireball roars over them, and

afterwards - with the charred bodies in the car. Intense scene. Very intense.

Whoa.

And then, of course, it ends full circle - Ming's back using a cane, she's blind again - but the movie ends with her walking up to her Doctor, now obviously in a committed relationship with her.

Very well photographed, extremely compelling movie that moves about on different levels deftly and smoothly.

Now that I've spoiled it for you - go watch it!

VG