A small Colorado town named Dogville accepts a young stray woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman)running away from seemingly strange circumstances. The townspeople, led by the local philosopher/writer Thomas Edison Jr (Paul Bettany), take her in and grudgingly accept her presence - despite the knowledge some gangsters were looking for her. She gratefully tries to earn her keep, through manual labor, and the residents warm up to her and even consider her a friend. Fear and hysteria sets in when the police keep placing 'Wanted' posters of her around Dogville (she hides when they ride in). Pretty soon, they weigh the risks of keeping her around and then resort to emotional blackmail and eventually, physical abuse - the men force themselves on her and the women blame her for it. Her lone attempt to escape is met with failure, and Grace is chained to prevent her from leaving. Through it all, she displays uncommon mercy and tries to reason with them; her naive pseudo-lover Tom, doesn't seem to be any help, and is torn apart by the fact he's the only one who hasn't been to bed with her. After a consensus, the townfolk make one final mistake: call in the gangsters to give her up (if there's any monetary gain to that, they don't object). They pay for it dearly, as Grace's true nature is revealed.
This would all seem a normal movie, if it werent for the fact that everything is done on a big stage - think of a play in the gymnasium floor. The whole town is just marked by lines on the ground, designating whose house is which and what street is that. There are no walls to speak off, so the viewer can practically what everyone else is doing. Von Trier is an unconventional and clever director, and by radically toning down the special fx and the props, gets his actors to focus on acting - he enlists film vets such as James Caan, Lauren Bacall, Stellan Skarsgard and Philip Baker Hall - and the plot (several quarters viewed this film as anti-American). He certainly doesn't avoid the charge with the elements he uses in this film. Not a film for everyone, but once you get past the first hour, you can't help but appreciate, or even marvel at, the audacity and brilliance of Dogville.
so what is wrong with this picture?
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