Kat's Film Reviews: Dogville

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Dogville

A brave friend and I went to see this film together. Just as it started, we turned and said "Good luck" to each other. And we meant it. Lars von Trier films are notoriously difficult on the nerves. While he will do almost anything to make you squirm (those final scenes of Dancer in the Dark are etched on my retinas), he does provide entertainment (and yet Bjork dances and sings!). At least I could say that about his previous films. There is nothing whatsoever uplifting about this film. In fact, it genuinely seems to be a giant middle finger to the U.S. of A. And weirdly, that will only be obvious after you see the credits. The story itself is played out on a large soundstage with demarcations on the floor showing you where the houses and streets are supposed to be. Grace (the name itself a sad irony), played sweetly and innocently by Nicole Kidman, happens into town but is wanted by the police. The townsfolk agree to hide her, and begin to care for her, but they get too invested and the ugly cracks in their characters start to show. Everything is revealed and called into question: weakness, shame, betrayal, choice, reason, arrogance, even prostitution, and especially slavery. It's a flaying of human personalities, set up so logically that you recognize and accept it all. My main quibble is that the film is too long -- while I understand that you need to see how the community attitude changes towards Grace, I'm pretty darn sure I didn't need to give up 3 hours of my life to understand von Trier's philosophy. Whether this world view is valid would involve a completely other kind of review. Let's just say that while some Americans will agree wholeheartedly with his take on socialism (and therefore most Americans should see it to be equally enlightened), the rest of what he seems to be saying about America (and Americans) is hogwash. If, in fact, he's pointing a finger at the world in general, that's a bit more palatable. But then -- what's the deal with those end credits?

year: 2003
length: 177 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276919/combined

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