Now I might be wrong, but it occurs to me that Zell Miller might really like this movie. Oh he'd be offended by it, no question. Playing "Young Americans" over the end credits would likely wake him up to the fact that it's supposed to be a critique of American society. But in what comes before, I think he'd love a lot of it. The setting of course - a small American town of yesteryear where people were hard working, marked with a certain level of optimism and rectitude, but also inclined to keep to themselves and their traditional ways. But also the faith in a greater morality and the need for a harsh judgement. Because while a wide variety of evils, furies and types of violence come to this small town - they all come in the guise of the creation of better, just society. The message seems to be that sometimes deep and horrific violence is necessary for the triumph of what's right, moral and just. Harmful things must be wiped away, and the world cleansed.
Actually from a philosophical standpoint I found this to be an interesting movie (albeit heavy-handed). And it's extremely well-acted by a truly high caliber cast. And it's staged in a really interesting way (and yes, all the comparisons to "Our Town" and Brecht are very much on target). If suffers from being far too long, and frankly rather dull during the first half of the film. And perhaps the compaints by some that it's rather pedantic aren't without some justification. But all in all I found it to be an interesting and moving film. There's nothing like a von Trier film to make you feel for the desperate plight of a woman tortured by society. It's certainly not for everyone, but nonetheless I recommend it - and I recommend it pretty highly.
Posted by armand at September 8, 2004 12:36 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Movies