Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerLars Von Trier's experimental drama is an amazing feat of film making. The story is full of brutal, saddening, and heartwarming moments. The story is told in chapters, much like a book, with little scenery. The film elegantly puts forward some very deep questions about innocence, ignorance, and morality. The ending is brutal and left me stunned.The acting is amazing. Nicole Kidman performs flawlessly. She plays an innocence girl on the run who wants to begin a new life. Paul Bettany also performs very well. John Hurt narrates the story. His voice perfectly blends into the film as he describes the characters, their thoughts, and the story.The pacing is slow but I enjoyed how Trier takes his time in setting up the characters, the environment, and the story. The runtime can be overlong for nonmovie fans, but once you get into the film it goes by like the wind.Pros: An amazing experimental film, a powerful story, great characters, amazing acting, great questions asked by Trier, and slow pacing that develops the story and charactersCons: The pacing can seem slow to nonmovie goers and the runtime is a little long at almost three hoursOverall Rating: 9.2P.S. I would highly recommend this amazing film. The story, characters, acting, and the amazing and stunning ending is what makes this film a must see.

Nothing more than a play that was filmed. All the "action" on one set with cardboard walls to show where each building was. Although the actors had to pretend to open any doors. I didn't learn anything but, in the future, to stop watching this type of crap and not carry on because it is that odd perhaps it must get better. Predictable enough that I worked out the ending with around two hours to go, I guess I kept on watching the see if I was right. Unless you are a cinema geek who needs the arty stuff I wouldn't waste your time on this one.

If you have never heard of Dogville (2003) you are not alone. Three hours is a lot to invest in what some call a blatantly anti-American diatribe in an experimental hybrid of theatre and film. But this avant-garde masterpiece should be seen, at least in part, by anyone who is serious about modern cinema. Danish director Lars von Trier has located the tiny hamlet of Dogville in America for many reasons but this allegorical meditation on the nature of evil and justice is as universal as the human condition, and is far more about a state of mind than a place.If you have not seen it, some facts will prepare you for what is a unique experience. Dogville is set on a minimalist stage with chalk lines for roads and rooms, no doors, a few props to separate inside from outside in this closed, struggling claustrophobic Depression-era community that is suspicious of all strangers. Originally written in Danish by von Trier, the translation to English picks up a lyrical formalism which is precise and slightly stilted that allows more time to reflect upon the dialogue. The amorphous production setting intensifies the impact of acting, and the camera-work moves around quickly from close-ups to panoptic 'eye-of-God' viewpoints to flat long-view pans, all dynamically lit to create the illusion that this is a real town.While the plot line is uncomplicated, the story is multi-layered and its interpretation challenging. The hamlet provides shelter for beautiful fugitive Grace who is so grateful she offers to work in return. The town progressively learns she is wanted by both 'the mob' and police so they increase her work hours to "compensate" for harbouring her. They demand more and more compensation with each revelation, increasing her work to hard labour from sunrise to sunset. Soon she is shackled by a leg-iron contraption, endures physical and sexual abuse in public. What appeared to be a benign hamlet becomes a hub of pure evil while the innocent and once-forgiving Grace learns about moral relativity and human failure.This extraordinary film pivots equally on the genius of von Trier and tour de force acting by Nicole Kidman. While a long film, it continuously builds tension towards an unpredictable and chaotic climax, with the various elements woven into a single narrative fabric by the expressive gravitas and ironic humour of narrator John Hurt. But there is little to laugh at in this nihilistic film about the ever-present potential for evil in all humans. It begs the question why we do not see more experimental films like this? The question answers itself: they are too risky. This film is not for everyone, but it is mesmerising, intellectually challenging, and so worth the effort.

It is a fascinating production premise of shooting on a presentational set design (that is, drawing chalk lines and bidding the audience to imagine that the walls are there). This is the stuff of theater, and Lars Von Trier forces the presentational method into that of movies, which are usually representational in design. But that's the only kudos I can give to this boring, badly written movie with overbearing on-the-nose narration, and awkward lines. Cinematography was distractingly bad as well. I believe that the idea was to simulate the feeling of seeing a stage play, so almost the entire movie is shot with extremely long lenses from 50 feet away, which feels, obviously, like you're watching a movie from fifty feet away.Now the Flannery O'Connor-like moral allegory in the story is what many people comment on, and regarding that, I would like to give Mr. Von Trier one, no two, very big middle fingers.The root of all evil is not found in poor and working class white people. I'm sure that there are bad people among regular rednecks. But why pick on them? Because they don't fit into some liberal category for pity?On the positive, I thought that Nicole Kidman was great.