Brief movie review: Sixth Sense

It's not often that I see a movie in which I notice that the script is superior to the acting, but this film fits that category.  Bruce Willis as a child psychologist wasn't entirely believable, not because I'm more accustomed to seeing him kill people and blow up buildings, but because he seemed so far removed from the children in the film.  It turns out, of course, that there's a good reason for the distaince, which I wouldn't dream of revealing.

Despite my fears that this would turn out to be "just another horror film", this script was way better than that.  And yes, like the entry next to this review, it does deal with talking to the dead.  It's definitely worth seeing.

Two summers ago, I was visiting a cousin who is about ten years older then I am.  That means that when I was growing up, she was like a grown-up to me, and when that might have changed, she moved away.  Then she was married and raising kids.   Then she was living on her own, with kids grown and moved away.   And I thought it would be interesting to get to know her.

Interesting.  One of those great Canadian understatments, in retrospect.  We spent some time on her deck, and I, demonstrating my usual curiosity, was quizzing her about her life, and what she was doing now and why.  Well, I guess it got easier to tell me than to evade my questions.

"Dead people talk to me," she said.   "Oh," I said.  Now, I'm an athiest, and have no beliefs about after-lifes, reincarnation, utopian heavens, or demonic hells.  In fact, I've often believed they all exist right here, right now, but I wouldn't want to swear to that, either.  So, I was somewhat taken aback by her announcement.  But this is not a "looney-tunes" woman.  She has never been more calm.  She has never been more tranquil.  Something was obviously making sense in her life as it never had before.  Perhaps, I thought to myself, it was hearing from dead people.  It's not like I had any reason to not believe her, after all.

I asked her if they were dead people she had known, and what they told her.  She knew some of them, and didn't know others.  They usually told her things they wanted other people (still alive) to know.  I asked her if she delivered the messages. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't, she said.  I asked why she thought she heard these voices and others didn't.

She attributed her receiving these messages to her decision to live a quiet life.  She told me that she's convinced that it's not a special talent or a special gift, but rather choosing to be quiet enough in life to be able to hear what is all around us... including the voices of the dead.  I wanted to ask her if she had any messages for me, but she seemed so surprised at herself for having told me that I didn't want to push her any further.  She hadn't meant to tell me; it just happened, she said.

I'm not sure I'd want to hear from dead people.  I have enough trouble keeping up with the living.  But then again, I'm unlikely, at least for the foreseeable future, to have a life sufficiently tranquil to invite such voices into my life.  But I still wonder if she has any messages for me.  Perhaps I'll ask her when next I see her.

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