Wide Awake – Second to Nun

M Night’s second film, Wide Awake, asks its audience to consider philosophical questions such as: “What happens when we die?” and “It’s the bottom of the ninth and the bases are loaded. Who are you sending to the plate – Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?” I know my answer…

Wide Awake tells the story of Joshua, a young boy attending a Catholic school who, after losing his grandfather, makes it his mission to find God.

Filmed on a meager 6 million dollar budget, this is the only Shyamalan film not to make its money back at the box office, which is understandable due to its limited theatrical release in March of 1998. The film itself was shot in 1995, lost in post-production for an inordinate amount of time before release.

Joshua has a very serious problem. When he falls asleep, he is OUT. His parents have to literally drag his sleeping body around the house every morning and get him ready for school. They brush his teeth, get him dressed, probably feed him breakfast – all while he sleeps. I thought I was a heavy sleeper until I saw this movie.

There are a few storylines in this film, the one that hit me the most on an emotional level were the flashbacks where Joshua spends time with his grandfather. These scenes evoked a certain authenticity that made me miss my own grandfathers and wish I could talk to them again.

Another storyline that made me feel nostalgia for my schooling days was all the mischief Josh and his friends would get themselves into. With his best friend and accomplice Dave, he breaks into the classroom and revises his test answers. What a scoundrel! Children also roll down the halls in a mop bucket, hiding their identities with crude disguises from their overbearing teachers. While I never got in any serious trouble as a youngster, I do vaguely remember getting sent to the Principal’s office for running amok in my otherwise empty Kindergarten classroom. Oh, to be six years old again.

Joshua is taken under the tutelage of many adults during this film, but perhaps the most important relationship he forms is with one of his teachers, Sister Terry, played by Rosie O’Donnell (still a few years before she hosted the Survivor Marquesas reunion). While Joshua samples the veritable buffet of religions attempting to find God, Sister Terry is more supportive of him than expected, giving the young man guidance when he needs it most.

An aside: Sister Terry is also a baseball nut, and although the poster of the film implies she throws the ball around with Joshua, perplexingly there are no baseballs to be found within the runtime of the film.

Finding God is no easy task, especially for a kid. He takes his mission very seriously, even trying to get his parents to take him to meet the Pope.

Finally, this is a film about growing up. Joshua confesses to his mother that he no longer sees joy when he walks through a toy store, just “plastic.” He is confronted by other adult themes such as falling in love with a young girl, poignantly named “Hope” demonstrating that growing up might not be all bad.

Shyamalan is known for his twist endings, and this film – believe it or not – has one. I will not spoil it here, but I will say that I did not see it coming. It recontextualizes the entire film and honestly made me want to watch it again.

I will also say that after watching this film, it’s no wonder that Shyamalan was hired to write Stuart Little. They share a lot of DNA and heart. Hollywood lore says that the filmmaker was writing both Stuart Little and The Sixth Sense at the same time, which I find infinitely funny.

Shyamalan Rankings

As expected, I much preferred Wide Awake to last week’s Praying With Anger.

1. Wide Awake
2. Praying With Anger

Be sure to come back next week for my review of The Sixth Sense. Should be a good one!