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MANDERLAY Send This Review to a Friend
Lars von Trier is back with his sequel to “Dogville,” this time with a film called “Manderlay,” set in 1933 Alabama and tackling the legacy of slavery in the United States. Bryce Dallas Howard now plays Grace, who, after leaving Dogville with her gangster father, comes upon a plantation in the Deep South. She gets involved in life there and tries to improve the lot of those still embroiled in the racist legacy. The results are more than she bargained for, and Grace herself is in grave trouble.
Von Trier’s plot is a muddle that twists relationships in such a way as to veer from what might be a more realistic understanding of the actual dynamics of remnants of slavery. The screenplay turns gimmicky.
As with “Dogville,” the set-up is creatively portrayed minus major scenery, with everything done in an open format. There is also an excellent cast, including Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, Lauren Bacall, John Hurt as narrator, Udo Kier and Chloë Sevigny, among others. Howard starts off rather tenuously as Grace, and one misses Nicole Kidman, but as the story moves along Howard comes into her own and is effective.
“Manderlay” contains many elements reflecting slavery, racism and racist stereotypes, and to the extent it exposes America’s past and lacerates our country for it from a foreign viewpoint, the film is justifiably on target. The trouble is that the director turns things inside out and upside down. The plot carries the suggestion that the victims don’t want life to really change but are more furious with an intruder who would try to alter conditions. The intruder do-gooder becomes a villain.
The subject is too complex for the kind of treatment it receives here, although Von Trier creates an oddball film rich in atmosphere and dripping with tension, as well as being stylistically fascinating and throbbing with strong performances. An IFC Films release.
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