Dogville, directed by Lars von Trier, is perhaps the first film for the blind. With prolific voiceovers from John Hurt, to explain a virtual soap opera in nine acts, the film has no cinematography but instead is performed on a set that could be used in a low-budget stage play. The action takes place in a small town, Dogville, which is tucked away on a cul-de-sac next to the Rocky Mountains beyond a Georgetown, Colorado. Grace (played by Nicole Kidman) flees Georgetown and seeks refuge in Dogville, where fifteen residents in one of the regularly held town meetings decide to accept her as the newest resident, provided that she will work for them. Accordingly, she weeds a gooseberry patch of Ma Ginger (played by Lauren Bacall), provides company to a blind Jack McKay (played by Ben Gazarra), and indulges in romance with the town bachelor, Tom Edison (played by Paul Bettany). The genre of films about newcomers in small towns, from The Stranger (1946) to Hearts in Atlantis (2001), tends to depict new residents as having secret sinister backgrounds who are able to take advantage of the gullibility and naiveté of small-town residents. However, a portrayal of the intolerance of small-town residents, as in the classic film Fury (1936), is consistent with studies by sociologists from Middletown (1929) to Who Really Rules? (1978), who find a power elite that maintains control over a town despite the formality of democratic elections. Similar to the academic studies of small towns, film critics currently interpret the events of Dogville as a paradigm for what is wrong about American political culture. Grace is first accepted, then questioned when police post her picture as a fugitive in town, and finally rejected by the townspeople as unfit to live amid a hypocritical power structure. Since Dogville is the first in a promised trilogy, the conclusion that the film is anti-American may have to await the next two films, which hopefully will have fewer voiceovers and more of a story through action and dialog. MH
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