Manderlay - movie reviews and information

No one emerges unscathed in 'Manderlay'
by Bob Longino

"Manderlay," the less successful but certainly as interesting follow-up to Lars von Trier's dynamite "Dogville," isn't necessarily going to win too many friends in America. Like "Dogville," this latest installment in Von Trier's inventive and, some would say, hateful look at these United States doesn't exhibit much kindness in dissecting the issue of slavery. It's a harsh look at who we are, what we've been about and what kind of people we might really be. Read the full review

TO SUM UP
Set in the 1930s, a young woman finds herself on a plantation that is operating as if slavery hadn't been abolished 70 years earlier. Feeling a moral obligation to restore order and liberate the workers, Grace soon discovers how dangerous it can be to challenge the status quo and that justice and democracy are both complicated and imperfect.

FILM FACTS ...

IFC Films

'Manderlay'

Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Willem Dafoe, Jeremy Davies, Danny Glover, Udo Kier, Jean-Marc Barr
Run time: 139 minutes
Release date: Jan. 27, 2006
Rating: Not rated, but includes profanity, nudity, violent images and sex.

On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

READ THE REVIEW

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B
"(Director Lars) Von Trier may not be completely right. But he certainly isn't all wrong."

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Austin American-Statesman: 1 of 5 stars
"... dramatically inert, a turgid intellectual exercise that numbs."

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The Palm Beach Post: D
"... filmed on a staunchly artificial sound stage set, with locations indicated by painted lines and labels. This focuses our attention on the dialogue, a strategy that is not to (director Lars) Von Trier's advantage."