Dogville

Very unique movie, but I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. There is only one (albeit large) set, which represents a small town including all of its buildings. It's not visually dull because there are enough variations in lighting, camera angles, etc. to keep it interesting. Elm Street is clearly labeled in large white letters as Elm Street. Buildings are mostly white outlines drawn on the floor, with the occasional door or prop that is key to that location, and the buildings are labeled as well in case you forget that this is Tom's House, etc. The sparse feel of the set is likely to remind you of a play, and yet, some of the way the story is told could only be done as a movie. It really took me out of the story at first, constantly reminding me that what I was seeing was being staged, but as I became more accustomed to the appearance of it and drawn in by the performances of the actors, I was increasingly less aware of the set until it almost disappeared for me by the end. Interesting effect, and judging by the Netflix reviews, one experienced by a lot of other people as well. This set also allowed unconventional ways of showing things, such as a person going through a horrific experience in a house while children were playing right outside and other people were simply getting on with their lives nearby, for example, and the director didn't need some tricky shot to show this because it was right there in front of you. It might have also been intended to give the viewer a more generic sense of place and/or time.

I don't think this would've worked if the acting hadn't been as solid as it was. Nicole Kidman in particular was stellar, but I don't think there was a weak performance in the bunch, even from the children. You could certainly argue that the acting was rather stylized, but that fit with everything else.

As for the story itself, it requires some serious patience to get past the slow beginning, but the director really did need this set up time to achieve the full power of the ending. I can honestly say I felt it was worth the trip when I got the end. The story begins with a young woman on foot being pursued by someone clearly shooting at her with guns, and she stumbles into a small town. The residents agree to hide her, at least for a short time, in no small part because the local deep thinker convinces them to do it. She begins doing odd jobs for everyone to pay them back, and they even pay her a little cash as well at first. Life is pretty good for all concerned, and she seems to have found a place in the community. Then the police and the FBI turn up a few times, clearly looking for her, and the residents of Dogville continue to hide her, but with less good grace as time goes on. They begin to demand more and more of her, and that's where things really begin to gather momentum, as people start to ask too much of her as the price of keeping her secret, rationalizing all the while that they're not asking any more than their due, even as their actions become more and more horrifying.

I won't spoil what happens from there, as this is the best and most unique part, but I will say that I'll be thinking about what I saw for some time to come. I've read that this movie was intended to be a criticism of the USA, but until the use of David Bowie's "Young Americans" with photographs of poor Americans shown over the end credits, I don't think that it's particularly obvious that American culture specifically is the target. I interpreted it as being about how easily human beings can lose empathy for others when empathy would get in the way of their own needs, how far they'll go to justify their choices even when they know at some level that they're morally wrong, and what happens when that process goes too far. I don't think that's distinctly American, though I do agree that our individuality-obsessed culture may be more prone to it than some others.

This is an enjoyable movie if you're looking for something that's really going to get you thinking about how people treat other people, and even how you yourself may be treating other people in your life. It's powerful art, and I'm glad I personally spent the time with it, but I don't know that a lot of people would choose it as entertainment. It's original and certainly thought-provoking, but recommended only if you're in the mood for fairly heavy material.