M. Night Shyamalan: "I have more to do with a Spanish filmmaker than with one from Hollywood"

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Some time ago

came to the conclusion that the biggest surprise is not so much the most unexpected as just the opposite: the most obvious of all.

His new film,

is exactly that: a revelation built with the most ordinary elements.

That is, earthquakes, plagues, infections, erupting volcanoes, religious sacrifices... A family on vacation in the middle of the forest has to make the toughest decision to avoid something as everyday as the apocalypse.

With these elements, the director builds an intrigue with the appearance of '

' and that, in its own way, sums up the credo of the director of

with a meticulousness that, indeed, scares.

Let's start with the present.

The Oscar nominations have just been announced and it is striking that since his first film he has never been mentioned again.

Does it hurt? Do you think it's fair? I just do my thing.

My work probably has more to do with a Spanish filmmaker than with one from Hollywood.

I live 3,000 miles from Los Angeles.

In any case, the relationship is good.

I make the movies and they distribute them.

They are very kind to me and very respectful.

And I am happy like everyone when there is a celebration.

But it's not something I chase.

I just do something else.

in a way, pretty much sums up his career.

Does this mean that you are saying goodbye to something, that a new phase is now beginning? I couldn't explain why this is so.

But it is true that there is a bit of

a bit of

another bit of

Somehow, my cinema has to do with fairy tales.

And my first reaction to the idea of ​​this movie is that it was a dark fairy tale.

Why are cabins in the middle of the forest so scary even though they have Wi-Fi? Yes, human beings are contradictory animals.

When we decide to rest from work, from day to day, from obligations, we look for the most isolated place possible, aware that if there is a problem we are going to have a hard time.

We want to be alone, even though loneliness terrifies us.

That's always a good start to a story.

The film normalizes, so to speak, the endless series of disasters that we have experienced lately from the pandemic to the war, passing through democracy itself threatened by false news... Yes, we have normalized the apocalypse.

What some time ago could be understood as a sign of the end of the world, now is nothing more than any news item on the news.

If right now one goes out into the street and yells that the end of the world is coming, we don't even take him for a madman, it could be any of us on a bad day.

The planet has gone mad and we have become used to that madness. On the other hand, we live in a time where everything is in plain sight and it is increasingly difficult to tell what is true from what is not. The problem of having direct access everything is that you access the truth with the same speed and simplicity as an invented story.

If ten people agree to create a conspiracy theory or commit a violent act, the tools to organize are there for everyone.

It is extremely easy to lie and not show it today.

That is why we have radicalized so much.

That is another dimension of fear that the modern world brings us.

It's okay if four undocumented immigrants believe that the earth is flat, but if those four are convinced that to achieve their goals they have to kill someone, then we have a problem. Why are we so fascinated by the theories of the conspiracy? The adrenaline rush that the unveiling of a mystery gives you is what a conspiracy theory offers.

Suddenly realizing something hidden hooks.

It is the same mechanism as many of my films.

We all love that feeling.

The same reason people come to my movies is because they love conspiracy theories.

You feel smart, you feel powerful.

It's really satisfying to feel that you,

only you have a global vision of something. At the center of much of his cinema, this film included, is religion as, precisely, the great conspiracy theory for understanding the world.

Isn't this sacrilegious? Well, it is.

It may sound controversial, but religion is nothing more than a narrative, a part of mythology.

Religion is a fairy tale to understand what happens and to transmit values;

so that you can go through life and that there is some force that binds us as a society.

We tell each other stories simply to be able to interact and to be able to save ourselves together from the claws of the lion that threatens us.

It is the narrative, and religion is one more, that has made us the dominant species.

For me there is no difference between the mythology proposed by the comics, for example, from any other.

And I do what I do because I love creating mythologies. Let's say he sees cinema as a religion and he sees himself as a priest of this new faith... It's probably the most effective mythology because it's the one most people gather around him.

How many come to see my movies?

30 or 60 million?

It's absolutely amazing.

It's amazing, but it's also a huge responsibility, of course.

And, furthermore, it says a lot about us and about the cinema itself that everything is the result of an error in our minds.

Cinema is nothing more than 24 still photos per second that our mind turns into movement.

It is really magic, a magic that is very present in religion.

As a common experience, it is very beautiful when the lights go out and we all witness the appearance of the miracle.

Yes,

it is almost a religious experience comparable to going to a church, a mosque or a temple.

It is something very powerful.

He speaks with devotion, never better said, of cinema at the moment of its greatest crisis...Crisis?

I do not agree with that statement at all.

Well, that's what it seems after the irruption of the platforms and the movements of the big production companies that are more concerned with the series than with the movies... It's a narrative that is being imposed and that is not true.

Whatever happens, humanity has been gathering around the fire to tell stories since the days of the caves.

And that will continue like this.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that isolation drives us crazy.

We are not intended as a species to live alone.

I remember my neighbor could have killed my father if he heard him cough.

COVID was not only terrible because of the deaths but because of the fear it instilled in us towards others.

And that completely nullified us.

For this reason, there is a new need to be together, to recognize each other.

I go out into the street and see the restaurants and concerts full.

And that will happen the same with the cinema.

It's actually happening.

There was a story interested in the platforms in the opposite direction, but it is a false story.

They told us that the future was going to be everyone at home with their device, but it was clear that they were talking about their business.

No, that is not like that.

Never before has cinema had a brighter future.

Believe me and ignore the 'fake news'. But you yourself have made series.

Isn't that somewhat contradictory to what you're saying? Not at all.

They are different formats.

The domestic format allows you to spend a long time with the same characters, but new stories can only be lived and enjoyed in community.

Not in home.

They have spent millions of dollars making movies for the platforms.

How many of them are relevant?

How many have affected us?

None.

Even though they are good, it doesn't matter in the slightest.

Changing the subject, one of the aspects of his latest film is that the family is made up of a homosexual couple without this fact playing any role in the story.

It's a family, period.

I think of the controversies motivated by the extreme right that have led to similar decisions in other films.

Are you worried? No.

It is a family with the same doubts, problems, fears and suffering as all families.

It's more,

as a narrator I feel more attached to their love story than to other stories I have told in the past with heterosexual couples.

I couldn't explain why, I just feel that way... I think of Sidney Poitier.

Everyone clearly saw the character he was playing and identified with him regardless of the viewer's skin color.

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