dr_salter

I was pleasantly surprised by this Aussie comedy when I saw it on a plane flying home to Sydney. There is a continuous tingle of surprises coming up in every scene & all the actors deliver that special warmth that comes from good movie direction and consistent acting. There is a wonderful sense of reality in the plot that shows a man who is finally able to understand how to grow up and face the fact that if he leaves his family home & his dinky-die mates he will be OK.

Sure, he may need to work hard to keep the new found girlfriend's touchy-feely relationship & hit upon true love with his special girl but in the end he finds it is worth the hard yards. The part played by small person Peter Dinklage (from "Death at a Funeral"-UK & USA versions) is particularly delightful & adds a certain touch of sparkle to the whole movie. Try & see it if you can.

Kidman plays a gangster's (James Caan's) daughter, who is surrounded by criminals and so wants to escape the vicious side of life and live in peace and quiet in the country. But once she's gained 'refugee status' in Dogville by working hard each day for the townspeople, Grace is soon being taken advantage of by the poor country folks, who slowly become a replacement for the criminals.

Grace's problem (and she gains a few dilemmas over the weeks) is that she does not set her boundaries or demand justice. Even refugees have rights. Her voice is very well modulated and the girl never raises her voice, except once when she yells at Vera's young son stating that she will not physically spank the boy (and then she does hit him!). Bad move Grace. This bad action is supposed to show the townspeople that Grace is immoral and not trustworthy and so this automatically opens her up for further exploitation and degradation, which includes being used for sexual relief by all the men in town. (Thankgoodness the women are not lesbians.)

So, now we see who's trustworthy, truthful... and what's immoral. But Grace just lies back and takes it! WHY? I feel she should get a bit angry but doesn't seem to show any reactions till the end.

Actually, I dreaded watching Dogville because I do not feel that Nichole Kidman has any right to be accredited as a leading actress, in the category of Liv Ulman.

In Dogville, Kidman is a pale insipid disappointment and so was James Caan as her gangster Daddy. They are obviously only worried about showing their good side to the cameras (Kidman's wispy hair was a worry!) and they were not able to bring out the truth needed to portray the underlying faults in the characters.

The script was ably supported by the other lesser known actors and even the great actress Lauren Bacall looked scruffy for the part.

This movie was supposed to be a representation of a stage play on screen so what's with the user comments about "where's the scenery?" For goodness sakes- grow up people!

Dogville should be watched as a film about justice, trust, trustworthiness, assertiveness, conscience and faith in humanity, which is what you see in any Shakespeare production so maybe HEY!... Dogville's script is up there with the best? And it's good because IT MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT HOW WE ATTAIN A Truly MORAL SOCIETY GUYS.

I reckon they should make Dogville again without Kidman and Caan and see what happens. It'll open your eyes and your hearts for sure.