Manderlay

Bryce Dallas Howard and Isaach De Bankole in Manderlay

Lars von Trier's Manderlay, from 2005, is a slightly less successful sequel to the director's 2003 masterpiece, Dogville. Grace Mulligan (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her gangster father are touring the American South after vamoosing Dogville. They happen upon the titular plantation where the black population still, in 1933, suffers under the yoke of slavery. Grace sets about rectifying the situation by enrolling a number of her father's goons to free the slaves and set up, under her guidance, a communitarian democracy to run the place. Despite Grace's good intentions, her plans go awry and von Trier is able to close his drama with a note of delicious irony

Like Dogville, Manderlay's single setting is portrayed on a minimally decorated soundstage. The element of surprise at this strategy is diminished this time out, but it is still an effective way of presenting what is essentially an allegory about America rather than a realistic drama. Von Trier's grasp of Americana is tenuous at best, dust storms don't occur in Alabama, for in stance, but one cannot deny the palpability of his negative feelings towards our country. 

The spartan settings and von Trier's hand-held Dogme technique places a great burden on his cast, most of whom deliver here. Nicole Kidman's performance as Grace in Dogville was a towering one, a Mother Courage for our times. Bryce Dallas Howard steps into the role here and is, unfortunately, the film's main flaw. Howard is good at evoking the do-gooding, schoolmarm side of Grace, but lacks the ability to project the steeliness and sensuality that Kidman did so expertly. On the other hand, Danny Glover is superb as Manderlay's house Negro. 

Lars von Trier's anti-Americanism no doubt rankles some. James Caan was so disturbed by it that he opted out of Manderlay after appearing in Dogville. His role, that of Grace's gangster father, is capably filled by Willem Defoe. I certainly don't share any of the director's batty politics, but respect the depth of his feelings on display in Dogville and Manderlay. It is unimportant to me what a director's politics are or whether he is sufficiently woke or anti-woke. What matters to me whether the director effectively transfers his ideas and feelings into a coherent and well crafted film. In Manderlay, von Trier is able to conjure the legacy of trauma that American slavery bequeathed to African Americans and that is more than enough to help the film transcend his blinkered view of the USA.