One of the best psychological thrillers of all time is the story of Cole Sear, played by Haley Joel Osment, who is a very troubled boy who can see and talk to the dead. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Bruce Willis as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, the psychologist who helps him.
Once Dr. Crowe suggests that Cole try to communicate with these ghosts and see what they want from him, he takes the opportunity to speak to Kyra’s ghost. She shows up in her room and throws up in her tent. He later finds out where Kyra lives and that she had been ill before she died. His little sister was also starting to get sick.
Kyra’s ghost gives her a box that has a videotape on it. The videotape shows Kyra’s stepmother putting some cleaning fluid on her food. This poisoning by the stepmother is a mental condition and a form of child abuse. The mother poisons the children to get attention. When the video is played, the grieving father and everyone present at the funeral see the guilty stepmother. She is standing there in red as it symbolizes “anything in the real world has been contaminated by the other world”. According to M. Night Shyamalan “rules and clues”.
The image of the stepmother standing there as if she had done nothing, innocently supporting her grieving husband smiling and being the hostess as if she were the center of attention at a party.
This can happen to anyone. Dr. Crowe encourages Cole to search for the ghost and find out how to help them lead Cole to be brave enough to begin with. The scene in the video is so powerful. Showing Kyra setting up the video to expose the stepmother’s wrongdoing, did Kyra know she was dying?
Could he have contacted his father? Would her father have believed her? Are there so many questions that come to mind?
The courage of the hidden camera didn’t save Kyra, but it did save her little sister and expose the evil stepmother. I couldn’t go on and hurt anyone else to get attention.
Some people we trust the most are the ones who will hurt. An illness can cause a person to hurt someone, even a child, as in this situation. Protect yourself with cameras, be vigilant and have an open mind to help prevent and deter a tragedy like this.