Dogville
DVD Review

by: Steven Snyder
"Dogville" joins the ranks of "Elephant" and "Northfork" as one of the most difficult films of the last year to discuss - a conflicting experience that becomes that much more troublesome on DVD.

The easy path in this instance is to either call the work brilliant or pompous, touting its artistic ingenuity or criticizing its pretentiousness. But the truth is that there is such a mix of both that the result cannot be summarily hailed or dismissed.

One cannot discuss "Dogville" without first discussing director Lars Von Trier, who admits in a commentary track that even he may not like the film in a year or so. A founder of the DOGME 95 film movement, which strives for realism in cinema, "Dogville" is a hybrid between classical style and Dogme ideology.

On the conventional side, there is the contrived story of Grace (Nicole Kidman), a stranger who arrives in the tiny town of Dogville, is encouraged to remain by Tom Edison (Paul Bettany), and then ends up having the town turn on her as she threatens their artificial sense of security. The production values are obvious, including distorted camera angles, dubbed sounds, an over reliance on narration, and artificial lights.

But on the “realistic” side of things is the film's lack of a set or setting, which calls attention to these very devices in ways that will intimidate many filmgoers. Rather than houses, stores, or streets, Von Trier creates Dogville as a chalk outline of a town, where each square represents a house and we are privy to the collective workings of this town even if its ignorant and hypocritical citizens cannot see through these imaginary walls.

In so many ways “Dogville” has the feeling of a theater production, the town resembling the blank canvas of an open stage. And by juxtaposing various images and calling attention to the sounds, lighting, presentation, and format of the filmmaking, Von Trier attempts to make this a more theater-like, active viewing experience – the very essence of Dogme style.

This approach does not always work but it is also never boring, which saves it from being pretentious. A pretentious work would exploit a stylistic device to a fault, or would water down a film’s ability to entertain through an obsession on being “different.” A film like "Northfork" is pretentious because it revels in being obtuse and in hiding as much of the story's meaning as possible from the viewer.

This is not what Von Trier does. The set, or the lack of, adds to the story, and the overblown melodrama, which seeks to isolate and ridicule American culture as well as societal power structures, tries in earnest to connect with the viewer. In fact, a recurring theme in Von Trier's career is the ability to make films work which should really self-destruct. Much like "Dancer In The Dark," "Dogville" makes us aware of how we are being manipulated, yet affects us just the same.

Von Trier is aware of what he is doing. In the end, he has successfully created a film that implicates us in both its voyeurism and its overdone messages about power and morality, encouraging the audience to embrace and revel in the same violence we have deplored thus far.

Or maybe it's something simpler.

“I would never make a story that could only be read one way,” says Von Trier in his commentary track (the disc’s sole feature), proving that his minimalist style is not intended as a device that confines, but one that liberates.

Those who don't like to question films will find this movie ambiguous, bordering on incomprehensible. Similarly, those who crave subtlety will find it overblown.

I find "Dogville's" moments of quiet brilliance, and even its flaws, fascinating precisely because it is able to stir up both these groups simultaneously. Here, despite his flaws, Von Trier has pandered to none while engaging all.

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