Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Nicole Kidman (Grace), Paul Bettany (Tom Edison), James Caan (The Big Man), Patricia Clarkson (Vera), Stellan Skarsgard (Chuck), Chloe Sevigny (Liz Henson), Jeremy Davies (Bill Henson), Lauren Bacall (Ma Ginger), Ben Gazzara (Jack McKay), Philip Baker Hall (Tom Edison Sr.), Blair Brown (Mrs. Henson), and John Hurt (Narrator).
Rated R for disturbing images and rape.
Lars Von Trier is not a conventional filmmaker. If you have seen his critically acclaimed films Breaking the Waves or Dancer in the Dark, you know this.
Dogville is even more unconventional. You realize this from the opening shot, high above a sound stage. Dogville's church, doctor's office, store, homes, bushes, and streets are drawn in chalk, like the outline of victims at a crime scene.
It's the bare bones of the town, sparsely enhanced with a few props that dot the interior of these homes and establishments. There are pews in the church that are used for worship, but mostly for town meetings. A chalk board in Chuck and Vera’s home is used for home-schooling their children. A window display at the general store holds a menagerie of porcelain figurines that no one seems to want because they are too much like the people of Dogsville. A medicine cabinet sits at the back of the doctor’s office. In Mr. McKay's house, a red velvet sitting chair sits in front of luxurious drapes that are purposefully drawn shut to hide the beautiful view behind his house. The Old Lady’s bench at the front side of Dogsville sits on the knoll that overlooks the apple orchard and the valley below. And the church steeple (that holds the church bell) hangs in mid-air. It's like the heart of town--the bell is used to inform townsfolk when there is an emergency, when someone is approaching the town, and when an hour has transpired. The town would quickly become dysfunctional without it.
Von Trier’s minimalist approach to the set is refreshing, fascinating. It seems to highlight the claustrophobic feel of a small town, the sense that everyone lives nearly right on top of each other, and the sense that your neighbor knows everything about you. Von Trier's approach also allows the viewer to focus on some of the characteristics of the small town-- the disregard for individuality, the focus on conformity and unity, the apathy shown toward abuses; and its healthy dose of xenophobia, to name a few.
Specifically, Dogville is a story about Tom Edison (Paul Bettany), who we see in the beginning of the story trying to convince the townspeople of their pride, their lack of unity, community spirit. It is also a story about a young woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) who wanders into town trying to escape from her dad and her past.
Tom stumbles upon Grace when she tries to steal a bone from the town dog, Moses. Tom learns of her plight and comes up with the grand thought that Grace can be the vehicle that will change the problems that Tom sees in the townsfolk.
Knowing that the townspeople will not agree to harbor Grace, Tom comes up with the idea that if Grace spends one hour a day serving every single person in town, the townspeople will get to know her and allow her to stay. The townspeople decide to give her two weeks to prove her worth. Not having anywhere to go, Grace accepts.
For two weeks, she serves each of the townsfolk. And sure enough, the townsfolk become quite fond of her. At the town holiday, in fact, they toast her for bringing the town closer together.
Before long, however, the townsfolk begin to take advantage of her. They expect more of her. Some of the men in town mis-interpret her kindness and interest in their work. They abuse her. Tom's grand schemes of service and eventual salvation for Grace leads into indentured servitude. We sense he might have desired this from the beginning.
Roger Ebert, in his review of the film, felt that Von Trier’s vision of Dogville is "a parable of America," creating characters that "are xenophobic, vindictive, jealous, suspicious and capable of rape and murder." He further adds this assessment of Von Trier-"His dislike of the United States (which he has never visited, since he is afraid of airplanes) is so palpable that it flies beyond criticism into the realm of derangement."
Now, I greatly admire Ebert. His understanding of humanity qualifies him, in my book, as one of the most insightful film critics to have graced the art. I have not always agreed with him, but more times than not, I have agreed and come away from his reviews wiser for reading them. In regards to these statements, however, it seems Ebert is concentrating too much on Von Trier and missing the broad themes of the film.
I don’t see it as a parable of America as much as I see it as a parable of humanity in a microcosmic view. Dogville is a film about the grand ideas set into motion by men of thought who desire to save the problems facing their nation, community, group, etc. It is about how these grand solutions eventually prey upon the weak of society, the minority classes, the poor, the naive, the easily duped, etc. And it is about the darker side of human nature--that if people feel threatened, they will fight to protect their territory, their way of life, etc. If men know they can use their authority and control over people, unchecked, they will abuse those people.
In literature, the themes of Dogville remind me of Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, in which young women are used as servants and/or as child-bearers. Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel A Scarlet Letter, also reminds me of Dogville--it follows the plight of a woman who is forced to live with a scarlet letter on her chest for fornicating out of wedlock. Her punishment is thought up by the priest who impregnated her.
Finally, I was also reminded of the classic Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery," in which the citizens of a small town stay true to their tradition of stoning one of their own each June in order that the harvest will be good in the fall.
History itself validates Von Trier's themes. It is rife with examples of nations, communities, relgious groups, exhibiting the characteristics Ebert attributed to Von Trier's townsfolk --"xenophobic, vindictive, jealous, suspicious and capable of rape and murder."
