Wallop!
I watched a rather powerful film yesterday called
Dogville. This is the first part of a trilogy called
USA - Land of Opportunities, by Lars von Trier (he of Dogme95 fame, although von Trier didn't adhere to the Dogme95 "Vow of Chastity" in making
Dogville).
Dogville was on Roger Ebert's list of worst films of 2004, so that alone should arouse your curiosity! It certainly did mine.
The film is set on a huge sound stage with very basic props, which lends it the atmosphere of a theatre. The outline of houses and other items are drawn on the ground with chalk, and the actors act as if the lines were walls, etc. So we see people opening invisible doors when they walk out of their house, and interacting with a chalk-drawn dog. But it's all very easy to follow.
In brief, the film charts the arrival, integration, and eventual rejection of an outsider (Grace, played very well by Nicole Kidman) in a small rural village. Along the way the villagers commit horrible acts, although they always have an excuse or reason for their behaviour, and therefore Grace finds herself forgiving them each time, even when her own person is violated. But towards the end an event occurs which causes her to reconsider her stance and instead hold the villagers to the same moral standards she herself maintains. Therefore the film is at its heart a rejection of moral relativism and an argument in support of universalism. The late great Bernard Williams
left me in no doubt as to which side of the universalist-relativist fence I reside, but the film is a powerful prompt in the universalist direction if you haven't made up your mind.
Dogville is also a very interesting film in its own right. It was widely expected to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2003 but
Elephant took that prize.
Elephant is a good film but I think
Dogville has more to say. So I look forward to the rest of the trilogy:
Manderlay and
Wasington.