Thursday, February 02, 2006

Manderlay

Manderlay is brilliant. Lars von Trier comes through with a masterpiece, again, meeting the high-water mark he set with Dogville. Two down, one to go, in his trilogy "USA".

Von Trier creates a microcosm where slavery breeds despite the best intentions of his protagonist, Grace. Slavery seems so distant. Lars brings it in close. In both of his works, we see his characters get comfortable with slavery. How does this happen? How could this have ever happened? Surely it would not happen on my watch. Surely we can undo it if only given the power. If you're so sure, watch Lars...

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