I watched the movie ‘Dogville’, directed by Lars von Trier, last night. Ines and I tried to watch this movie together about 2 years ago. If I remember right, we watched about 10 minutes and decided that it was either too slow, or dramatic, or boring, or something, so we stopped watching it. Last night, I actually managed to get through the whole 3 hour movie. And what a movie it was; it has been quite a long time since I’ve seen such a powerful film. It was about as far from a feel-good movie as imaginable, typical for von Trier. A major theme was the ease with which human corruptibility, greed, and exploitation arises when given an opportunity. Furthermore, the movie points out how oblivious people can be to these negative aspects of human nature, both within themselves and their friends and family. Exacerbating the movie’s bleak message was the manner in which in was filmed. There were no sets, only a black stage with white chalk drawings on the ground and a sparse scattering of furniture. This artistically risky approach provides few distractions from the rather depressing events transpiring on screen. Like I said, very powerful. After watching the film, I checked what critics had to say about it at rottentomatoes.com. Very mixed reviews. Some people loved the artistry and originality in the movie, while other found it pretentious, boring, and/or excessively long. Apparently, many people were not affected by the movie to the same degree that I was. Thus, all I can suggest is to see it when in the mood for a dramatic, provocative movie and make up your own mind.