For a guy who’s never been here, maverick filmmaker Lars von Trier sure does have lots of insights about the United States … and most of them aren’t very flattering. Inspired by the Bertolt Brecht-penned tune “Pirate Jenny” — about a persecuted servant-girl who exacts revenge on her tormentors — “Dogville” is a three-plus-hour misanthropic assault on what von Trier presumes to be the myth of American goodness. But it’s not enough to say “Dogville” is merely anti-American, it’s essentially anti-human. The title relates to the film’s central thesis: That people are narrow-minded, bloodthirsty animals, no better — perhaps worse — than dogs. Sound brutal? Well, it is.
But “Dogville” is also a film that, after a rather tedious first hour, grabs you by the collar and shakes you into cognizance. Whether von Trier’s anti-capitalist sentiment and lack of faith in humanity resonates depends largely upon what the viewer brings to the table, but the film is undeniably engaging on several levels, even as the cinematic techniques the director employs leave us feeling oddly detached as the story unfolds.
The film was shot on a hand-held digital camera entirely on a large soundstage in Copenhagen, Denmark, with invisible houses, bushes, even the town’s pooch marked only by painted white lines. Color is washed-out, with no walls to conceal them the townsfolk are hemmed in together in an eerie, claustrophobic fashion. With its disjointed dialogue and curious commingling of the real and imagined, “Dogville” plays like filmed theater of the absurd — something you’d expect to see on public television, rather than at the multiplex.
When the movie premiered last year at Cannes, von Trier rejected comparisons to “Our Town,” but many will, no doubt, find similarities between the ramshackle Depression-era mining town that is Dogville and Thornton Wilder’s sad, rustic community. But Grover’s Corners never knew the kind of iniquity that befalls Grace (a magnificent Nicole Kidman), a beautiful fugitive on the run from mobsters who is given refuge by the citizens of Dogville in exchange for giving of herself in ways that grow increasingly onerous.
What the dishonorable denizens of Dogville don’t know, however, is that Grace has a dangerous secret — one that comes to light during a horrific reckoning in the film’s finale. In addition to Kidman’s award-caliber work, there are several superb performances here, most notably from Patricia Clarkson, Paul Bettany and Stellan Skarsgard. (Rated R for violence and sexual content. Running time: 177 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2004. Read the original PDF.