Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

alexdeleonfilm Lars von Trier's latest was in competition at Valladolid, 2006, where it shared the Best film Golden Spike award with Hanekes's "Caché Basic Plot: A gangster on the run from northern justice in 1930 finds a hiding place in Alabama at the Manderlay cotton plantation still being run under slavery rules, called Mam's law."Manderlay" is the quirky Dane's pseudo-American successor to "Dogville", From a purely personal point of view I must say that I regard Von Trier films as an acquired taste (like poison) which I have never acquired -- in fact I have always found them rather revolting and have never been able to sit through one of his schizzy nightmares from beginning to end -- although I did sort of make it through "Dogville" -- by sheer will power, with many cigarette breaks -- but mainly because of a fascination with Nicole Kidman's uncannily shapely nose. In short I thought "Dogville" was nothing but pretentious bullshit, and I couldn't believe that an actress like Lauren Bacalll lent her prestige to it, but -- I have to admit -- against my better judgement -- that I actually (sort of) liked "Manderlay". For one thing, Bacall, who was wooden in "Dogville", dies off in the first ten minutes, "Grace", who was Kidman in the first installment of this projected trilogy, has now metamorphosed into a less glamorous but far more credible actress, Bryce Dallas Howard, and a ponderous James Caan as Grace's gangster father, has been replaced by a more digestible (if slightly ridiculous) Willem Defoe, but what really makes "Manderlay" work as a drama (rather than a pretentious lecture on the sad state of the world by Lars von Trier) is the excellent cast of black actors, especially Danny Glover, but all uniformly good -- who somehow infuse this Von Trier head game with some real soul. Another thing which helps, is that Von Trier has mercifully gotten a little away from the overweaning Monopoly Board sets and invisible clicking doors which made "Dogville" unbearable after the first half hour. There is still, in "Manderlay", a certain amount of the artificial Monopoly Board geometry in place, but not so much that it totally distracts as it did in the earlier film. Who knows, maybe Part III will be set on a Ouija Board -- in any case, "Manderlay" has a certain feeling going for it that makes it far more watchable than any of Von Trier's previous sessions of celluloid sado-masochism. The title, incidentally, has nothing to do with Kipling's Mandalay, but is a co-opting of the name of the spooky mansion in Hitchcock's "Rebeccah". Here it is the name of a strange Alabama plantation where, in 1933, slavery is still going on and the slaves seem to like it that way -- for as head slave Danny Glover (great role) puts it, "We ain't reddy fo' no freedom yet -- we's better off dis way. Maybe he done got dat one right!

kos-27 If Dogville is a movie about human nature Manderlay is a movie about social nature, it is a very political movie.Manderlay works on many levels: It appears to be a story about oppression of the black people (and slavery) in America. In fact it's an allegory about society in general. How is a just society supposed to function? Is democracy the ultimate political possibility? These are the basic question we ask ourselves since the beginning of time. Lars von Trier chose America because it is the dominant culture of our time. It could be (like in Dogville) any society, even a family. The point is that the movie shows the unmasking of terms like "democracy" and "freedom". This story has so many levels, it could even be an allegory for all the wars that the West has fought and still is fighting in order to "impose democracy" and to "help" the oppressed peoples.The movie is made like Dogville and it is no less valuable than Dogville but because Dogville was the first and blew me away I prefer it slightly to Manderlay .

cormac_zoso OK KGF Vissers should not be allowed to write any more plot summaries until he/she takes a remedial English composition course at the nearest GED program and/or night school ... good lord can you actually create more convoluted sentences than the opening one? i mean if you really sat down and gave it 100 percent effort, could you create a sentence that make less sense? or is it more of a zen-like effort where effort is counterproductive to the end result? I'm guessing it's more akin to an idiot-savant method ... and i suspect I'm only half right in that assessment ...and please, IMDb, hire a few people to take a gander at these plot summaries ... hire me, i'd be happy to lend a hired hand around here for you ... it really makes the website look shoddy and this is absolutely one of the best websites ever pulled together ... amazing content and insanely handy ... please don't let slip-shod contributions make it less ...

Imdbidia Manderlay is the second installment of Lars Von Trier's thought-provoking trilogy USA - Land of Opportunities. The story, told in eight episodes, starts where Dogville ended. Grace, her father, and their bunch of gangsters stop to eat by a place in Alabama called Manderlay Plantation, where slavery persists 70 years after its Abolition. Idealistic Grace decides to stay, free the blacks and start a communal free plantation.The setting, like in Dogville, is a theatrical set with minimalist elements of architecture and floor drawings marking the different areas of the place. The camera wanders both very close to the characters, as if the viewer was filming them with their own video-camera, but also from above, from bird's view, as if all they were little pieces in a chess table or little dolls. The setting serves the viewer to focus on the story and its message.Trier is always merciless depicting the human being and Society, not because he is nasty or weird, but because it an artist' obligation -or it should be, because that's the matter of Art- to reflect on the issues that affect the world we live in. You like it or not, Trier is a true artist. In fact, Manderlay's story, is indeed relevant to contemporary Western society.Three main questions are explored and answered in Manderlay and explicitly posed to the viewer through the events told in the movie: 1/ Is democracy the best political system to have a free society? 2/ Can democracy be preached by using the support of guns? 3/ What is the best solution to the race problem in America, both in the past and in the present? Thus, Grace teaches the blacks the rudiments of democracy, but does so as she is escorted and supported by a bunch of gangsters, therefore, from a position of power and of white superior - the same she believes she's fighting against. Moreover, nobody has elected her, so she shouldn't be preaching democracy. If this wasn't enough, Grace tries -always with the best intention, to teach blacks people how to be black and be free without even asking them what they want, she who is not black and has never been a Slave. Actually, she was a sort of slave in Dogville, but she did not learn from that. The shock that she gets at the end of the movie masterly reflects how a just system can be unjust and oppressive when imposed on people who don't benefit from it and have had no voice in its establishment.There is not blinder/deaf person that the one who doesn't want to see/hear. The little moral of the story is mentioned at the beginning, when Grace's father reminds her of her childhood and the bird she had in a cage, which she freed thinking that it was the best thing for it, but not being a wild bird, she found it frozen in the window next day. And, once again, she would treat the blacks with affection and love, but also as if she was her owner.The actors are all good in their respective roles. Bryce Dallas Howard is good as Grace Margaret Mulligan; she looks very sweet and innocent, which helps to convey the naivety and paternalism of her character; however, I found her a little bland sometimes, To be honest, I would have liked seeing Nicole Kidman, as she still looks fragile and naive, but she has a maturity that would have given an extra push to the character; however, I don't think that frigid Nicky would have been good enough in the sex scene. Also very convincing are Isaach De Bankolé as the proud and feisty Timothy, Danny Glover as Wise Elder Wilhelm, and Mona Hammond as lovely but week Old Wilma. However, all the cast is terrific.The music is terrific as well as the last song by David Bowie, Young Americans, which is really relevant to the story, as well as the photos of the America that would have waited for the Manderlay blacks until well entered the 1970s.The main flaws of the film are that the story can be easily twisted if interpreted literally to say that the movie supports slavery or that puts the blame on the blacks for not freeing themselves earlier, which is completely the opposite of what the films intends. The movie, moreover, is not engaging enough at the beginning and a little bit of footage could have been cut. Finally, the colors and quality of the film used are very poor, which really makes the watching not as enjoyable as it could have been. Trier was much more careful in Dogville and had better colors, lightening and a sharper contrast.A very good film, not always engaging.