Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
After her love, Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix), is injured and nears death, Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) is entrusted to leave her secluded, 19th-century village to travel to a neighboring village and retrieve medicine for him. Her village lives in fear of the monsters that lurk in the surrounding woods.
Ivy successfully obtains the medicine and returns, saving Lucius’ life and presumably allowing them to wed. While this may seem like a happy ending, it’s very sinister considering the film’s classic Shyamalan plot twist: the monsters are actually the village elders in disguise, and the characters live in the 21st century.
They’ve perpetuated the myth of the monsters to keep the community they’ve created isolated from the world. Ivy was trusted with retrieving the medicine because she’s blind, meaning that she wouldn’t see the modern world during the trip and discover the elders’ secret.
By the ending, the elder’s secret in The Village is still safe, which means that their villainous, manipulative hold over the village remains.
