25 Years Ago, The Others Captured A Strange Moment In History

When director Alejandro Amenábar's The Others dropped into theaters 25 years ago, it was met with a warm response from critics, who praised the film's moody atmosphere. It worked its way up to the number two position at the box office, eventually becoming the highest-grossing Spanish film of all time. It also boasts the distinction of coming out almost exactly one month before the September 11th attacks changed everything, including the movies themselves.

The film, set in 1945, follows Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) and her two children, Nicholas and Anne (Alakina Mann and James Bentley). Alone since WWII started, they've become even more isolated after their servants abruptly disappear. The arrival of new servants, led by Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), is meant to restore normality. But when Anne starts talking about unseen people living in the house, Grace starts to wonder if something supernatural is going on.

The majority of writing about 9/11 cinema is about the changes various movies underwent in the immediate aftermath, rather than the movies released just before the attack itself. But to watch The Others today, with hindsight, is to see a unique depiction of religion and the afterlife that’s either ambiguous or bizarrely comforting, depending on your interpretation.

Kidman's Grace is a staunchly religious woman who spends her days teaching Nicholas and Anne how best to prepare for eternity. This makes sense considering they're living amid WWII, but Grace takes things to extremes. While her blind faith is all about remaining good and upstanding, Anne meets her devotion with pragmatism. At one point, Anne tells Grace how silly it is that, in the Bible story they're reading, two children would rather have their heads cut off than say out loud that they don’t believe in Christ, even while continuing to believe in their hearts.

Grace is clearly a hairs-breadth from losing control of her children, her house, and her sanity. And watching the movie in the wake of what was to come both that year and this year within the United States, that tension only feels magnified. As the unseen "intruders" become more present in the house, Grace starts to question the thinning veil between the living and the dead. Mrs. Mills encourages this, alluding to a secret that Grace and the children will learn when the time is right.

Two years prior, M. Night Shyamalan pulled an epic twist with the reveal in The Sixth Sense, and it's something Amenabar appears to build off of. It's soon revealed that Grace and the children, alongside Mrs. Mills and her two companions, are all dead. Grace, having finally snapped, accidentally smothered Nicholas and Anne. The intruders are a living family who have bought the house.

This sequence, in particular, is what remains fascinating about The Others, not only in how it plays out but in how it examines mortality and the afterlife. Grace stumbles upon a book of post-mortem photographs, a popular practice from the mid-1800s to the early 20th century. They were a means of honoring and remembering a loved one, but Grace finds it "macabre." It's a contrast to the sheer amount of photos, videos, and memorials honoring the lost and missing that would spring up nationwide a month later.

The revelation of Grace and the children's afterlife still captivates. As Grace sits, remembering what she's done, she asks, "Where are we?" The movie opens with Grace reading Bible stories and, later, quizzing the children on the various Hells, including Purgatory, Limbo, and the Children's Limbo. The Hells, specifically, are concepts more in line with Catholicism, while Limbo can be used or discarded depending on a church’s doctrine. Regardless, the movie seems to end with the Stewarts, Mrs. Mills, and her friends ending up in a form of Limbo.

Amenabar is committed to crafting a Limbo that feels pleasant. Devout Grace is not damned. She sees her fate as an opportunity for a second chance, to be the mother she wanted to be. Her children, highly photosensitive in life, can now enjoy the outside world. Mrs. Mills and company are no longer nomadic travelers. There's even a sense of community. Amenabar never indicates whether Grace's religious devotion is right or wrong. It's never stated whether she's been forsaken by God. It's an ending that feels remarkably irreligious, standing out in a period where Islamophobia and the religious right would soon become paramount.

Everyone will live free of poverty, illness, and old age. They are forever isolated — the fog that surrounds them traps them, only occasionally bringing a visitor like Grace's husband — but are able to go about their daily life with none of the worries of living. They aren't damned to Hell, nor are they in some Edenic afterlife. They simply pivot to a different form of living. It comes off as more hopeful than dour, considering where we'd be a month later.

The Others remains one of the premier ghost stories of the 2000s. But more importantly, it stands out as a movie that shows a different depiction of the afterlife, one that eschews the damnation of organized religion in favor of something that feels familiar, yet idealized. The concepts of freedom and the ills of humanity are absent here. It's not perfect, but it’s tangible.

The Others is available on YouTube.