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blurts this out, as though the viewer might not be competent to read the scene properly if left to her own devices. This scene could serve as a guide to the interpretation of the whole of the piece, in the sense that it implies that what we are witnessing is a farcical or satirical riff on the eschatological sci-fi anticipation of the end, a send-up of the generic apocalypse film. If that is so, then Shyamalan is too clever for his own good. If read properly, such films eviscerate the genre of which they are only ostensibly a part. Thus "The Producers" reveals just how absurd musicals can be-"Springtime for Hitler" indeed-and Mel Brooks' other efforts, "Blazing Saddles," "Space Balls," etc., show how silly the western and George Lucas' films respectively are in a number of senses. "The Happening" falls on its own sword if it is read this way.

If we read it straight, it implies that we ought to be more concerned about the impact that our species has on the natural environment than about the impact our species has on itself. Terrorists are the supposed culprits when the plague of suicides hits Central Park in New York at the beginning of the film. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that plants are spraying a substance into the air that attacks the human brain and nervous system, moving people to kill themselves. This is retribution of an interesting metaphorical variety: "You're killing yourselves slowly by despoiling the planet, so your chlorophyll-filled chums will just hasten the doom you are engineering by slow increments. Humanity is the disease, we've got the cure."
What's particularly dreadful about "The Happening" as it stands is that the script, performances and direction are so dreadful that it implies that its apparent message is the opposite of its intended message. One of many nauseating scenes involves Wahlberg's Elliot Moore watching as an agitated young man next to him kicks the door of a home containing terrified, rifle-toting fugitives from the plague who are clearly prepared to ventilate anyone who tries to penetrate their sanctuary. The young man continues to holler and complain and, just as it becomes clear that one of the annoyed madmen in the house is about to shoot him, the film drops into slow motion, allowing us to see Wahlberg's face contort with rage and fear as he emits the obligatory "Nooo!" and watches helplessly as the lad's guts are re-arranged by a shotgun blast. The scene is so predictable, ugly and foolish as it is that the addition of slow motion makes it ridiculous. Several other examples (the mad old woman who offers the protagonists' shelter and then loses her mind; the nursery owner with a mania for hot dogs;
the romance between Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel's Alma that seems to be based on little more than mood rings and cliches; John Leguizamo's Julian, who is willing to leave his daughter in the care of strangers while he rushes off to rescue his wife!) could be added that show that this film might be intended to kill itself, i.e. to reveal itself as a fake, a parody. If that's so, then the implication is that environmentalism is folly, and we ought to go on polluting and plundering the planet with gusto. If Shyamalan has this in mind, he has done a spectacularly poor job of conveying it, and it is as noxious a message as can be. If he does not, i.e. if he is trying to play the familiar allegorical/pedantic game with a narrative with two levels, he has pulled it off so poorly that his career seems destined to suffer the same fate as the humans in the film who breathe the evil spores and tumble like autumn leaves into their graves.

Learn more about this author, Art Skimpole.
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