Review of Manderlay (2005) by Saharat S — 14 Aug 2008

WOW. Sequel to Dogville, where our hero Grace finds herself with an army of mobsters at a plantation in the south where slavery was never abolished. One of the most intense and fascinating films I have seen in a long time, great story, great acting, and really unforgettable.

I watched it by myself, so I have no idea what any other human being would make of it, I could see people loving it hating it and arguing for a long time about it, there are no easy answers only complex moral and psychological judgments, that require actual in-depth thought.

Its not just a film about slavery or African Americans, or Americans in general, it's a deconstruction of American myths and our basic assumptions about democracy. I know it wont happen but someone deserves an Oscar or something.

I got it at Blockbuster so its pretty easy to find too. My only complaint, which is small is that it does follow a familiar trajectory as Dogville, at times a bit too closely. Don't let that stop you, and if you haven't seen the 1st part of this "The Land Of Opportunity" trilogy, it's not absolutely necessary.

Trier takes Dogma 95, in an interesting direction with these films, which act much like stage plays, where actors mime with imaginary sets. What this does other than just be "artsy", is to show us that our constructions of society are illusory, isolating the fact, that we are collections of people and ideas, no more a house, or a town, than we are a "country".