The Others is set in 1945 post World War II Jersey Island a British territory that was occupied by Nazis. Grace (Nicole Kidman’s character) lives with her two photo-sensitive children Nicholas and Anne in an isolated country side manse. Her husband has not returned from the war, they have not seen or heard from him for over a year. The film starts with Grace waking up and screaming loudly. Then we are introduced to the new housekeepers Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle and Lydia. Not long after, Anne senses that there is something wrong with the house. She insists that she sees some other people in the house. At first, Grace does not believe Anne. She even punishes her for lying and scaring her brother but sooner or later she realises that they are not alone in the house. It is later revealed in the film that actually all three housekeepers, Grace and her children are dead. They are actually ghosts and the other people Anne saw in the house were alive.

The children are photo-sensitive which means they are allergic to the sunlight exposure. Therefore, the curtains of the house are always drawn. The darkness of the house increases the ambiguous and mysterious atmosphere. The others is a horror film which does not conform to the conventions of the horror genre. There are no jump scares, no gore, no violence however it haunts you deep inside with its interesting twisty storyline and outstanding acting.

Another element that comes to fore in the film is the constant fog. It is mentioned that it has been foggy for seven days. The fog is another indicator of the fact that Grace and her children are in fact in the after life. In that video, Grace leaves the house to search for the priest because she wanted the house to be blessed. She then gets stuck in the woods, loses her way just like she is not able to walk any further. Suddenly she bumps into someone else in the woods, her husband. The fact that they both can see each other suggests that he also is a ghost and died in the war. He comes home for a while with Grace but he is confused and seems miserable and goes back to the front (where he died) after a short while. The ghosts in The Others are doomed to haunt the places they died. Their mobility seems limited. That is why three housekeepers Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle and Lydia have been living in the same house for over half a century. This becomes more apparent when we see Grace and her children at the end of the of the film proclaiming “No one can make us leave this house, this is our house”.

In this scene, we are introduced to the living owners of the house and the actual intruders are Grace and her children. It is the first time Grace, Anne and Nicholas realise they are dead. This particular scene proves that horror films do not need to use blood or violence to terrify the audience. Grace remembers she killed her children out of desperation and then shot herself after she realised what she had done. Then she wakes up and sees her children alive believing the god gave her a second chance however they were only ghosts of the children.

Even though it was not the happiest ending, I consider it as a happy ending. After Grace, Anne and Nicholas accept the reality about their death we see a glimpse of happiness. Children go out and say “look mum, it does not hurt anymore” implying that sunlight does not hurt them anymore and their suffering is over and they can be free just like normal children.

personal ranking: 10/10