Boring!!. Review on Dogville Movie

Dogville is an experimental film which could have been a masterpiece, if it had been handled properly. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a three hour exercise in patience.

Grace (Nicole Kidman) is a fugitive who stumbles into Dogville. The ''good, honest folks'' of Dogville agree to hide her from them. She tries to impress the people by doing small errands and working for them in shifts. But after some time, Dogville bares its teeth. They start to take advantage of her. She is used, abused and repeatedly violated. Even Tom Edison(Paul Bettany) who loves her very much, deserts her so that he can pursue his career as a writer. Just when the things reach a boiling point, the gangsters turn up again and the film ends predictably.

The whole story takes place in a small village called Dogville. They could have recreated the whole village and could have made it more realistic. Unfortunately, it seemed like a high school play or a regional TV drama. The action takes place in a stage with props and place names.. This must have been a deliberate decision taken by the director probably because of his intention to make the audience focus more on the moral and ethical implications and not get distracted by the visuals. But why make a movie ?? He could have chosen drama as the medium!

The film adopts a misanthropic tone towards human life in general. There are no selfless or brave heroes in this film. All the characters have a weak side and given the power to do wrong things, they actually end up doing it.

In real life, not all people who have power misuse it even though they have a chance to do so. I strongly feel that it depends on the individual. It is rather coincidental that all the people in this village misuse the power they get. The main difference between a man and an animal is the ability to think, make decisions and act accordingly. By just blindly obeying their senses, man just becomes an animal. In that case, the name ''dogville'' is very suitable for this village whose inmates are just ''animals'' blindly following their senses.

Suppose the individual who is being abused has a choice to actually escape from abuse, but prefers to stay , then the individual is surely at fault. This holds true in the case of Grace. If she had really wanted, she could have prevented others from abusing her (Probably,she could have contacted her father). But she thought that it was natural to be corrupt if one has the power to do wrong things. She considered herself to be a superior human being and forgave others for their sins out of arrogance and not out of compassion.

No doubt, it is a bold and an experimental film. But one eighty minutes of running time is just too much. If the director had made some cuts, it would have been a good movie worth watching. Instead, Von Trier(the director) takes his own sweet time to explain what is actually going on, in this film giving it a languid air that really tests the patience of the audience.

The climax which is a scene of shocking gravity, is actually the turning point and supposed to be ''poetic justice''! But, by that time, I am sure most of the audience would have fallen asleep! The revenge was supposed to be viscerally satisfying, but unfortunately, it fell flat.

The role of Grace must have been very demanding for Nicole Kidman...but that didn?t deter her from giving a brilliant performance. The Dogvillians ( which includes Tom Bettany, Patricia Clarkson and Chloe Sevigny) make distinct, long-lasting impressions in the minds of the viewers.

Avoid seeing it unless you are a big fan of Nicole Kidman.