Signs: Here is why.
First, I would like to say that all MNS' movies are incredible. He is by far my favorite screen writer and director. He embodies and exemplifies Rod Serling and Hitchcock in all his tales.
Signs is my favorite because I thought it was his bravest movie and the themes, both religious and classical, all were connected rather well. (I am terrible with character names, so bear with me). Rev. Hess begins his journey before our eyes with the cross taken down from his bedroom wall. Then, he finds the crop circles, which begins his journey back to his spiritual center. This "movement" is a classical trope that is embedded in western literary culture. It begins with Odysseus, as he travels to the edges of the world in the Odyssey and encounters monsters as he struggles to find his way home. More pointedly, the scene in the basement struck me as an underworld scene. In Odyssey, book 11, Odysseus visits the underworld and comes back from it a changed man. Rather than a boisterous, hubristic, Illiadic hero, he is now prepared to humble himself and become disguised with the potential of losing honor from the hiding. The underworld scene in Signs has all the makings of this sort of moment. The creepy hand of the alien reaches from the darkness, noting the abode of the dead and the demons that Hess must face.
This is tied into the angelic/demonic as well as baptismal themes as well. There is a scene in the film where Hess looks at his daughter and tells her he called her "his little angel." I think this is more than affectionate wording. Rather, as she tastes the water and places the cups around the house, she is placing Hess' baptismal water out in the open for the moment in which he has to face his demons (or demon, since there is only one alien in the room
). After coming back from the world of the dead, he encounters the alien and the demon is eradicated by the water set out by Hess' guardian angel (his own daughter).
On the point of the demons/aliens, I find it to be no accident that they only appear when he pays attention to that which is most important. When speaking directly to his children or paying close attention to his family, they seem to show up. It's as if they are there to thwart his journey back to his faith. His wholeness is at stake as he journeys through his issues and moves amongst the monsters to find his way back to where he belongs.
There is much more going on here and, one day, I would love to analyze MNS work through the lens of classical and religious symbolism. In fact, if I could do that and he would be available for such a book, I would love to talk to him about it as well.
For these reasons, I think that The Village is my second favorite of his. There is a sense of religious overtones that are generically reflected in the non-committal (by this I mean the prayers to no god or being) prayers and the non-existent religious symbols in the movie (flags are white, there are no crosses/zen symbols, etc). This, of course, comes from a backdrop of a group of scientists making their way through the idea of cutting off the world and creating a puritan sort of culture without really believing (perhaps) in god(s). The demons in the sense of the monsters are fake, but, not all demons are monsters. Sometimes they are what can be found amongst the worst part of our own selves. The Village plays on some important themes found in Signs, but in an entirely different way.
Anyway, Signs gets my vote. You may find my analysis nutty, but I love his movies because they make me think and I hope that they make all people who see his movies think. He's a master of the art and should be awarded for it.
FR
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