MANDERLAY

Denmark, 2005, 140 minutes, Colour.
Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover, Lauren Bacall, Jeremy Davies, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe.
Directed by Lars von Trier.

Could it be that Lars Von Trier is becoming more focused and disciplined? He even remarks that unwarranted provocation is ineffective – though good provocation is a challenge. He has always been a director with a challenge, especially about women and their exploitation by men. This was the experience of Grace, the gangster’s daughter as she tried to serve people and do good in Dogville.

Manderlay opens with Grace (now in the form of Bryce Dallas Howard instead of Nicole Kidman) and her father (now Willem Dafoe instead of James Caan) leaving Dogville and stopping at an old plantation in Alabama: Manderlay. Grace does the same thing as she did before in Dogville but now she is not so tentative. She discovers the blacks are still living in a slave regime (it is 1933) and sets about putting things right because the plight of the blacks is the fault and responsibility of white Americans.

Grace is a complicated mixture of the dominant and the naïve. What she has to discover is that crusading liberalism can be too idealistic and may ignore the real experience and aspirations of those it claims it is trying to help. Liberal disillusionment can be a dramatic shock. As Grace works with the plantation blacks (always in danger of patronising them), she imprisons the whites and uses her gangster guards and lawyers to make sure the order is kept and that everyone comes to her classes which will change them for the better. As she found in Dogville, what she thinks is best is not what people want. She also misreads characters and is surprised when people turn against her.

These are only a few key points in Manderlay. It is a much better integrated film than Dogville (using the same techniques, especially the artificial stage floor for the locations and dividing the film into chapters). Von Trier offers a challenge to both liberals and conservatives, especially those who would simplify issues into black and white. His cast is fine, with Lauren Bacall as the Mam of the plantation and Danny Glover as the chief slave. Once again, John Hurt narrates with a literate script that is descriptive, informative, ironic and philosophical. Once again, the film’s final credits are over a broad collage of stills, this time illustrating American race relations. Von Trier’s best.

1. Part two of the trilogy? How much presuppositions from Dogville? Characters, themes? Continuity? How well did this film stand alone?

2. Lars von Trier and his interests, themes: human nature, good and evil, race relations, African Americans? Their history, slavery, freedom? The themes of America – and his critique?

3. The staging of the film, the theatricality, the stage, the demarcations? Atmosphere? Theatrical performance – and cinematic style?

4. The interaction between realism and stylisation? The effect on the audience – for understanding plot and themes? The musical score?

5. The voice-over, John Hurt’s delivery, the quality, the literary nature of the exposition? Information, comment, moral conclusions?

6. The structure of the film: the introduction to Grace, her travelling with her father, the presuppositions from Dogville, arrival at the community, her being willing to serve, community and their reaction, the community turning on her, her final options to go or stay? Their traching her?

7. American themes of the 1930s, the abolition of slavery, slaves continuing in southern states? The old man and his memories of the Civil War? The history of African Americans, coming from Africa, the slave masters, American guilt about slaves, responsibility? Patronising attitudes? Bosses? The facilitation from slavery to freedom? The effect of oppression, the psychology of victims? The good and the bad, the gangsters and their attitudes, especially towards Timothy? Timothy, his double standards? Wilma and her eating the food? The final collage and its comments on the American issues?

8. Grace, her name? Her history in Dogville, her relationship with her father, the gangsters? 1933 and the travel along the maps of the US? What she brought from Dogville as regards community, service, disillusionment? Her antagonism towards her father? Grace and the possibility of a grace-filled future?

9. Manderlay, Mam and her ruling of Manderlay, the build-up to her death, Grace surprised at her racist attitudes? The book, the declaration of the Principle of Mam’s Law? The nature of the plantation, the slaves, their work, rules and regulations, the success of the plantation?

10. The old man and his age, experience, the aftermath of the Civil War? African American dignity? His being a spokesperson for the slaves? The discussions with Grace, with the others? His skills in management, his explanations? The ending and the fact that he wrote the book? His understanding the slaves, his complete classifications? His final decisions about justice, Timothy, and Grace staying?

11. The details of the slaves and their routine, the houses? The fact of their being freed, ability to cope, inability? Their incapacity for decision-making, for taking responsibilities? For mending tools, the situation with the plough, sowing? Their routine of life? The gangsters being present, pressures on them? The white family, the interactions with the slaves? Claire, her illness, her hunger, the death? Wilma, her age, hungry – and her eating the food, the justice decisions to be made, the death penalty? Jack and Jimmy, Grace’s error in not being able to distinguish one from the other? The drawings? Elizabeth and her place in the community, the little girl? The issues of voting?

12. The portrait of Timothy, music, his being aloof, relationships with others, the guards, his own work? Pride, sexuality? His claiming a false identity and basing his reputation on it? Issues of drinking and gambling? The truth about him? The whipping – and Grace and her reaction? Stopping the whipping? The end? His being unmasked, betrayal, exploitation of the other slaves?

13. The classifications, the detail, the comments on the slaves as persons, as workers? The irony of the old man writing the classifications? His pride in managing Manderlay?

14. Grace and her relationship with her father, her father and his character in the car, the decision about her staying, his race attitudes, attitudes towards the gangsters, leaving the gangsters there? Their arguments? His coming back, his setting the conditions? The irony of the time – and Grace making the mistake? His leaving the letter and the flowers and his going?

15. Grace, her becoming the boss, the danger in her patronising the slaves, her assurance in her command of people? Yet her wanting them to be free? Her explanation of her ideas, her demand that they come to lessons? Democracy, the votes – and their inexperience of democracy? Sewing and work? The clowning – and no answers?

16. The crops, the slaves and their inability to till the land, the broken implements? The consequences? Hunger? Claire and her suffering, her mother? The issue of the meat, the stealing of the meat, Claire’s death? Grace and her having to assess the situation? Her attitude towards Wilma, her tenderness and yet her having to be just?

17. The change, the development, the harvest, bringing in the harvest, the white family and the test? Prospering? Money coming in?

18. The portrait of the white family, their being farming people, ignorant? The parents, their attitude towards the blacks, the children, spoilt, exploitative? The final decision and their staying?

19. The gangsters and their staying at Manderlay, their being bored, their being used to criminal activity, the fact that they stayed, a certain loyalty to Grace? The lawyer and his presence, the discussion of the contracts? His finally going, his being blamed?

20. Grace and her sexuality, awareness of Timothy, the attraction, her dreams? The consequences of the liaison with him? His exploiting her? Her unwitting exploitation of him?

21. Timothy, leaving, the gangsters getting him? The truth, her anger?

22. Grace and her being told to stay, the old man and his explanations, the vote and its consequences? Her wanting to leave – but her making a mistake with the time?

23. The overall impact of the film, the narrative plot, the characters and their symbolic names, preserving the past, challenging the future?

24. The final collage that von Trier assembled of photos of the American experience, the race experience, the past, its relationship to the present – in the time of the G.W. Bush administration?