Dogville
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Movie Reviews of Dogville
Movie Review: A Human Condition Grippingly Exposed
Summary: 5 Stars
Every decade or so comes along a movie that breaks new ground. Dogville is in this category. The use of the minimalist soundstage set works very well. I found myself easily picturing what this town would have looked like and I was there.
We are watching a play. A dark, grim, bleak but authentic portrait of a human condition. Yes, it's long and at times slow but it's realistic because Dogville is a really slow town (one I'd be happy to avoid). I was fascinated by the story.
This is the first Lars von Trier movie I've seen (I now intend to see every thing he has done) and I was completely unaware of the anti-American controversy until after I watched it. It is far more believable than any number of Hollywood depictions of atrocities in other cultures.
I finished watching the movie 12 hours ago and I have been thinking about Grace all day. Kidman is superb. As is Paul Bettany. The work from the rest of the stellar cast is also very strong.
I had a really hard time trying to vocalize my feelings about Dogville to a friend right after I watched it mostly because I have nothing to compare it to. (She said she would rent it right away.)
It's original, the story is unpredictable and I think Lars von Trier succeeds magnificently.
Movie Review: A Great Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Dogville is one of the rare movies that leaves me totally spellbound by its end. This is a movie about the essential evil of man. It raises the fact that evil exists and bears its head in the face of weakness, jealousy, greed and lust. The evil seen in Dogma knows no end and is a stranger to the idea of mercy. Revenge rules and no one is above their baseness. Nicole Kidman's acting was totally real, so real that I almost couldn't stomach the scenes in which the men of the town raped and shackled her. The format of the film was great the narration provided a good third party view of the small in bread town in which no objective observers are to be found. The films primary focus is on the characters and their relationships and is totally absent of sets which I think draws focus to the central issues of the film and away from visual sensationalism so common in so many American films today. I do not see the film as anti American or even American at all as the themes are very much universally applicable to the human condition as a whole. In the end this is a great film which raises and attempts to resolve central questions of mans nature. The film address this age old question of evil in its own innovative way. For me at least this film helped me reconcile myself with my notion of evil,. A great film.Movie Review: A few things you should know about 'Dogville'
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't expecting to give this five stars until its ending, surely one of the most stunning plot twists in cinematic or literary history.
Without giving the twist away, the film essentially asks the question - how do you demonstrate respect for someone? Is it more respectful to 'forgive' someone their trespasses against you (as a Christian would)? Or are you showing them greater respect by crushing them into the ground? Is it more arrogant to hold someone to a lower standard and forgive them, or to hold them to a higher standard and judge them accordingly?
Very few philosophical movies are as effective as this one, but you have to keep watching through to the very end, otherwise the message will be lost on you. As for the comments that it's 'anti-American', they completely miss the point - the film could have been set almost anywhere.
The film is also noteworthy for Nicole Kidman's performance - usually a totally overrated and wooden actress, director Lars von Trier has somehow brought the best out in her, as she handles the lead role exceptionally.
You may also enjoy Time Struggle 1: The Wolves of Odin (Volume 1).
Movie Review: 2 years later I'm still thinking about it
Summary: 5 Stars
After thinking for a while, I decided that this actually is my favorite movie ever. It is long and not the kind of movie I'd watch over and over again, but no movie has ever had such a profound emotional impact on me and stayed in my mind for so long. I really couldn't stop talking about it and thinking about it weeks after I saw it. It is long and slow moving, which can be boring, but it makes the ending of the whole story so much sweeter. You really feel like you've truly gone through this whole journey with the main character through the traumatizing and the mundane. It seems a bit strange that the film basically has no props or set, just the outline of a town drawn on a stage, but I appreciated it in the end. You get so caught up in the whole thing that in the end you realize that it is just people on a stage (much more scarce than most plays you've ever seen.) It impressed me how the camera work, sets, etc. were not fancy at all. The most simplistic film affected me more than any other movie that has taken me to completely different places visually. You may get the urge to turn it off, but stick it out until the end and you will be satisfied. And it is not Anti- America as far as I can tell. It's about human nature and it could happen anywhere in any town.Movie Review: A rush of blood to the head
Summary: 5 Stars
Most of the controversy surrounding Dogville seems to be centered around its 'ideas,' but I would go out on a limb and say it is not a picture of ideas. It is straightforward, visceral, and, in a way, very realistic. Potential viewers will not have to worry about being bored by some vague, pretentious message explained in an abstract artsy style. What Dogville presents, instead of moral allegory, is - in the fashion of Lord of the Flies, the works of Jerzy Kosinski and, more recently, the Japanese Battle Royale - a simple portrait of how people will behave under certain extreme circumstances. Dogville clearly has no moral; its moralizing characters are punished perhaps the most severely. It does establish moral _problems_ which give the viewer something to consider after the film is over. What it does best, though, is engage the viewer and cleverly play with their sympathies. It connects on the level of a horror film in the intimate associations formed with the characters. Some people are sure to be scared off by its long duration or its developing reputation as an 'art' film, but hopefully Dogville will find the audience it deserves. It is not an 'important' film or an 'experiment,' but first-rate, harrowing entertainment.