[luckyharr]

I think it's less deep than you realize. Dogville was the first movie in a trilogy series entitled "USA - Land of Opportunities." I believe his aim is to expose his view of the real America. The second installment "Manderlay," was released last year and received better reviews than Dogville. Supposedly Lars has postponed the third movie "Washington" because "he is not mature enough."

SPOILERS!

Dogville was interesting. I have to say I enjoyed it. In the beginning, I couldn't believe I was going to watch an entire movie filmed on a soundstage with limited props and chalk lines indicating where homes were supposed to be. In the middle, about when things start to get ugly, I realized he was simply turning "Our Town" on its head to show the true nature of small town America. At that point, I was loving the movie. In the end, I felt he prolonged her misery too long and his condemnation was a little too harsh. The Depression Era photos set to "Young Americans" certainly confirmed that feeling. The only character in the movie with any morals, Tom, was completely pitiful, and I felt the movie's message might have been more effective if there had been at least a few admirable, redeemable characters. He swung the pendulum too far the other way, but perhaps that was necessary?

I plan to see Manderlay, but not for a while. From now on it's only one Von Trier movie per year at most. I tried to watch Dancer in the Dark a few days after Dogville and turned it off after about 10 minutes.