Ask anyone on the street (or even the most knowledgeable of film nerds) to name M. Night Shyamalan‘s first film, and they will undoubtedly and unequivocally tell you it’s The Sixth Sense. The impulse would be understandable, given it was his breakout hit of 1999, which featured the now-iconic moment of Hayley Joel Osment telling Bruce Willis he “sees dead people” before culminating in one hell of a twist ending.
They would be wrong, of course. Shyamalan wrote and directed two feature-length films prior to releasing The Sixth Sense. The first, Praying with Anger, toured numerous festivals in the early 90s and really hasn’t been seen or heard from since. The second, Wide Awake, was produced in 1995 but would not see the light of day until 1998. It’s a feel-good (sort of) family film about grief, faith, and growing up starring Denis Leary, Rosie O’Donnell, Robert Loggia, and a very young Julia Stiles. Despite having an official theatrical run via Miramax, a home movie release (the DVD even advertised the creator of The Sixth Sense on its packaging), and current rental availability via Amazon and Google, virtually no one has seen it.
But, is it worth seeking out?
Broadly, the answer is no. If you’re a Shyamalan fan, however, it might be worth your while. Wide Awake is an artifact of sorts, a window into the creative process of a young director still cutting his teeth and learning the craft akin to Stanley Kubrick’s Fear and Desire, John Carpenter’s Dark Star, and James Cameron’s Piranha II: The Spawning. Plus, SURPRISE! The film features a Shyamalan twist.
Wide Awake tells the story of Joshua (Joseph Cross), a ten-year-old boy attending a rather posh Catholic school for boys. He goes on a quest to meet God after his dear grandfather (Loggia) dies from cancer, hoping to find out if he’s doing okay in Heaven. He strays from the teachings of the school’s nuns—played primarily by the aforementioned O’Donnell and 90s TV darling Camryn Manheim, among others—and explores Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions, hoping that one of them will ultimately grant him the audience he seeks. This plot device serves as a loose binding for the proceeding hour and a half, as Shyamalan focuses more on vignette-like, coming-of-age scenes during which Joshua has his first “biological reaction” (crush on a girl), learns to be a better, more responsible student, and grows to be a better friend to his schoolmates. His chums include: best friend Dave (Timothy Reifsnyder), a seemingly invisible daredevil type who, it turns out, has epilepsy and isn’t so invisible after all; Frank (Stefan Niemczyk), an overweight misfit who pines for Joshua’s friendship, and finally gets it when Joshua realizes his path to God should be paved in kindness; and a mysterious “new kid,” (possibly played by Michael Craig Bigwood, who is credited as “Little Boy”) an angelic blond child who helps Joshua through his misadventures, but never says a word.
If you’re thinking this kid has something to do with the Shyamalan twist, you are correct. Once Joshua realizes the path to becoming a responsible, kind young man, he encounters the Little Boy in the halls of his school one last time, and—wouldn’t you know it—it turns out nobody else can see him. It’s HIGHLY suggested this boy is, in fact, God, who assures Joshua that his grandpa is just fine in Heaven. Music swells and the credits roll.
The biggest problem with Wide Awake isn’t so much that it’s a bad film, but that it’s a boring one. The idea of a boy so young grappling with such big, adult concepts is interesting, but the movie lacks the panache and humor of similar titles like Rushmore or The Squid And The Whale, nor is its wheels greased with nostalgia oil like Stand By Me or The Sandlot. It isn’t without some charm and poignant moments, such as the scene in which Joshua seeks the council of a rock star-like cardinal, only to discover he’s a fallible human not unlike his grandfather, does manage to tug a bit on the old heartstrings. Moreover, O’Donnell’s sports-loving nun gets in some genuinely funny lines, but while the DVD cover art suggests she plays a significant role in the film, in truth her role is little more than an extended cameo. This is the case for most of the good moments Wide Awake has to offer: just when they get going, we cut away to more antics involving Joshua and his friends, all of which are played with an almost deadpan reserve that makes the viewing experience a decidedly plodding one.
It is a noteworthy film nonetheless, if for no other reason than that it offers audiences a glimpse of the director Shyamalan would become. As Scott Beggs notes in his Film School Rejects essay:
Watching Wide Awake…it’s clear to see the lumps of clay that Shyamalan would later form into sharper relief. The lonesome, overthinking child with a devastating worldview spurred by death that adults can’t alleviate becomes the lonesome, overthinking child with a devastating worldview of dead people that adults can’t alleviate. The fractured family with struggling parent(s) remains, as do the larger questions of growing up and existing.
Moreover, we see Shyamalan grappling with issues of faith, a theme he would revisit to an extent in Unbreakable and in a major way with Signs. Both this latter film and Wide Awake seem to come to the same conclusion: Faith can offer personal strength and courage, and miracles (or even God) are hidden in plain sight all around us. Whether that’s a message to subscribe to or not, it is interesting to see a young director formulating and executing ideas in a rough-hewn sort of way, only to explore them with a keener sense of purpose later in his career.
All that being said, if you’re not a Shyamalan fan or if you’re not that interested in seeing the creative process laid bare, at the end of the day, you—and countless other moviegoers—aren’t missing terribly much by passing over Wide Awake.
