Von Trier cracks the whip

The middle segment of Lars von Trier's intended trilogy initiated by Dogville is mercifully shorter than its predecessor, an often impressive diatribe against America. Manderlay continues the story of Grace, the daughter of a gangster in the South of the Thirties.

After leaving Dogville, she travels to Manderlay, a cotton plantation in Alabama where slavery still survives 70 years after its aboliton.

Determined to oversee the slaves' emancipation, she preaches democracy but falls foul of those for whom freedom is a mixed blessing. This time she is
raped in mind rather than body as she was in Dogville.

Von Trier's technique is the same as before. He uses a bare sound-stage and a few set markers to tell his tale and his cast mime actions such as the opening of doors and the pouring of water.

Instead of Nicole Kidman as Grace, there's the less convincing but still watchable Bryce Dallas Howard, and Willem Dafoe substitutes James Caan as her father. There's also the estimable Danny Glover as the head of the slaves.

The whole is shot through with a commentary from John Hurt that is deliberately provocative, as Grace lusts after the naked bodies of those she intends to save, and uses the whip herself when one misbehaves. If her false assumptions about black Americans are laid bare, von Trier also cheekily parodies the slaves themselves.

Of course, he does it all to tease but, rather like a bully, shouts when he ought to whisper, and often treats his audience as idiots. There are some very good things in Manderlay, as in Dogville. But the whole lacks the surprise of the first film, and some of the power, too.

Manderlay
Cert: cert15