Manderlay (2006)

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerManderlay is the sequel to the amazing experimental film Dogville. Manderlay takes place right after Dogville and is about a town were slavery is not abolished. The story is at best okay. I found it too political and how it made it seem like white people owed blacks something. The film had too much white guilt over slavery scenes. I did find the ending very good because it made Grace realize that Dogville and Manderlay are both places where good people don't exist. All of the actors from Dogville were replaced in Manderlay which is one of the worst aspects of the film. Bryce Dallas Howard is no where near Nicole Kidman and this is the worst part of the film. Bryce Dallas Howard is shown nude. She is shown full frontal. Her breasts, though they are small, and orange pubic hair can be seen very clearly. There is also a scene where she spreads her legs and her vulva can be seen for a split second.The pacing is slow but Lars does this in order to develop the characters and the story. The runtime is nonetheless overlong.Pros: Good experimental film, an okay story, good ending, seeing Bryce Dallas Howard nude, and slow pacing that develops the characters and storyCons: Way too political, all the actors were replaced, some of the pacing is too slow, and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 7.3

it basically follows what happens in dogville but different actors playing grace and her gangster father, the gangster father played by Willem dafoe has only a small part to play but is very effective. originally played by James caan. i really do think grace should have been played by Nicole kidman like in dogville, but grace is acted out by Bryce Dallas Howard who i don't like all that much because of lady in the water, terrible film. Bryce is OK in this film, wouldn't say amazing though. i think the best performance in this is played by Danny glover but the best thing about this film that kept me glued was the narration by john hurt, the guy is a legend. he isn't the greatest in front of the camera but I'm so hoping he narrates more titles. now i wouldn't advise everyone to watch this film as it is filmed on a stage (just like dogville) and there's very little props around. you have to basically imagine that there in a house and not on a stage which i think is very original and brilliant and it works. good job to Lars Von trier for making another brilliant, dogville is the better on of the two though. looking forward to the third in the series "wasington"........... 8/10....... j.d seaton

Where "Crash" exposed prejudice at the human core, this film does the very same but works at an entirely different level. von Trier lets the viewer pick battles, stand-points and interests from a very big platter, while "Crash" serves tidbits. "Manderlay" succeeds because of a very simple moral story, where Grace continues from "Dogville", the first film in this series of two, and reaches a villa where a white woman rules negro servants despite the American civil war being over since 70 years. She takes self-manufactured responsibility for paying back what "our people did to yours", and does indeed pay. This film is multi-faceted, arty in the best sense and little things like the shots of humor through John Hurt's narration and the impeccable barrage of pictures at the end to that music are brilliant. Symbolism is key. Highly recommendable film.

When I started watching this film I wasn't too sure what to expect as I'd been told that was a bit weird. While it certainly isn't a conventional film it was impressive and I'm sure I won't forget it in a hurry.Following on from his previous film "Dogville", which I've not seen, Grace, her father and a group of gangsters drive across the American South where they stop outside the Manderlay plantation where it appears that slavery is still occurring despite it being banned seventy years previously. Soon after arriving the old lady who owns the estate dies after asking Grace to burn the book which lists the rules that the slaves are forced to live by. Her family then offers to employ the ex-slaves and perhaps open a shop so that they don't have to go all the way into town to spend their money... just as Grace's father had said would happen. She is understandably appalled at this state of affairs and tells her father that she is going to stay along with a few of the gangsters and her father's lawyer to enforce change. The film then follows their trials and tribulations over the course of the next year, many things go wrong; the crops aren't planted when they normally would be and Grace's idea of cutting down some trees so that the people their would have timber to repair their houses has unforeseen consequences. As stated before this film isn't at all conventional, these days we are used to detailed CGI filling in any parts of the scenery that can't be made for real but this is the opposite as there is no real scenery. It takes place on a large white stage where everything is labelled and what scenery there is is very minimalistic, for example a whole house would not be shown, just the window frame a child climbs though. I was impressed by the acting, especially by Bryce Dallas Howard who was excellent as Grace.