Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'puerile'??? no, no, no, 16 Aug 2006
Some say 'puerile', some say 'sardonic' or a 'wind-up', but Manderlay is none of the above. It is an acutely achieved masterpiece and one of the most intelligent pieces of cinema of the decade.
The film is based on the paradoxes involved when one group attempts to impose philosophies on others, philosophies that are blinded to the power relationships that bind any socio-economic situation. In less jargonistic terms, it shows us the paradox when we say freedom for all yet that freedom enables consequences we don't like.
Grace sees an atrocity, in a liberal-minded spirit she attempts to solve the atrocity by bringing freedom to a colony of slaves still working a cotton plantation 80 years after abolition. She preaches values of freedom and democracy and attempts to teach the slaves in these principles, installing the institution of the referendum to all decisions affecting the cotton farm they now all partly own. Conflicts then ensue on two levels, conflicts between the use of the vote and the logical call of science (they set the clock according to the vote) and conflicts between the use of the vote and the emotions of morality, the referendums result in resolutions that Grace finds repulsive to her morality.
This conflict is a demonstration of the conflict between democracy and rights based legal systems now faced in the world's liberal democracies. When the mass-opinion does not accord with the rights based consensus, the dictatorship of the legal system trumps the demos. This is fundamentally a power relationship and Trier realises this brilliantly in Grace's 'humane' shooting of an old slave who the group had condemned to a death of suffering.
The film delves into the question of when a group can be free. When one group enslaves another and frees them, they will do so on their own terms. The intricate reality of this situation is that the new order will place a number of curtailments on the substantive freedom of individuals in the group and the group itself. The only way for the group to be free would be to hold power themselves, something that has not happened to this date in the scarred continent of America.
The 'puerile' critiques of this film tend to be a knowing snarl at what Lars was doing. Yet the critics who put them forward fail to see that he, however ironically, poses philosophical questions that rarely grace the silver screen. Not only that, but philosophical questions with a political reality deeply relevant as we see with the gross inequality in the United States, the hypocritical and sanctimonious positioning of western states to developing nations, and the deeply problematic subjectivist vs objectivist dilemmas that face our western nations in our lovely 'war on terror'.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
God bless America, 4 Nov 2007
Danish director Lars Von Trier continues his Deep South adventure with this fable about race, power, isolation and freedom.
Like 2003's Dogville, there is something refreshingly literal about Von Trier's screenplay. That's not to say it lacks subtext - it is abundant - but at times its political convictions are presented like a series of political soundbites. While the blank theatre-style set is perhaps not used as effectively as it was in Dogville, the technique again adds weight to the bluntness of the key polemics.
Von Trier's magic is in tackling weighty subject matter in a very watchable way. Dancer In The Dark, for example, probably his most powerful deconstruction of the American Dream, showed us a new twist on the classical Hollywood musical; and without patronising its heritage it made a pertinent political point. Like that masterpiece, Manderlay demands the audience leave their expectations at the door whilst offering a reasonably straightforward narrative containing some satisfying plot twists and a surprising amount of dark humour. It may be less genre-specific than Dancer In The Dark, but like all this ex-Dogme director's latter films, it is accessible, neat and tight, and fleet of foot.
Von Trier presents yet another spiky woman-in-peril. Bryce Dallas Howard takes over from Nicole Kidman as the idealistic Grace. She turns out to be the ideal choice, too - there's a broadness to the shoulders and a steeliness to the eyes of this stronger, wiser heroine. Those who have Von Trier marked down as a misogynist will be pleased (or possibly disappointed) to hear that this troubled heroine is his most powerful and least set-upon to date. John Hurt, Chloe Sevigny, Jeremy Davies, Udo Kier, Lauren Bacall and Von Trier regular Jean-Marc Barr all return for another round of selfless bit parts.
Those concerned with the idea of watching a movie without a set shouldn't worry - it's practically unnoticeable after a time, thanks largely to the quality and intensity of the drama. This is classy, intelligent film-making from a talented and consistent auteur.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than Dogville ?, 3 Aug 2006
I won't attempt to compete with some of the very well-informed reviews on the Internet Movie Database, but to sum up: this is one of the 2 best recent films I've seen, and the other one was Dogville.
This is chronologically & thematically a sequel, but you don't need to have seen Dogville first. Manderlay also looks at social psychology, with an added emphasis on the legacy of racism & slavery in the specific context of the Southern states.
Hopefully if you're reading this review you're already open to films other than action blockbusters; this will appeal to anyone with an interest in intellectual drama, and political or social realist storylines.
The film set is, like Dogville, in the style of a theatre stage. This emphasis on form, as well as the 'lehrstucke'-style voiceover and theme is presumably the basis of the Brecht comparisons. This no-frills approach only heightens the impact of the film.
You should find the 2 hours plus fascinating & thought-provoking. Highly recommended.
The film also ends with a series of documentary photos of recent American history to the soundtrack of David Bowie's 'Young Americans'. This seemed very familiar; maybe Dogville did this as well ?
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