Perhaps to highlight the experimental nature of the film, and to let the audience understand from the beginning that this is just a "play", the director shows us a huge stage, representing the town - Dogvelle, with all the houses, fences, trees, streets And so on are all drawn on the ground with chalk, the actors use physical movements to express the existence of doors and windows, and there is even a dog drawn on the ground, we will know later, it will become the protagonist. It's a multi-act play, each scene has a title, there's a voice-over in a low male voice, the camera angles are mostly down, and, I don't remember having a soundtrack, these are of course up to his Dogma95 standards, low cost, nothing fancy , very pure.
The background of the story is the Great Depression of the last century. The people in the small town are living in hardships. They are located in remote areas, but the folk customs are simple. The three representatives are the writer Tom, the gentle and elegant father Tom and Mrs. Chuck, who is Mother of 7 children, they are still in harmony despite their difficulties. Tom rescued a girl during his routine walk one day, Grace (played by Nicole Kidman), who was able to deceive the gangsters who were pursuing him. We all admire his courage and wisdom. This tall and handsome young man also With better personal qualities, he is very kind, and for the poor girl, he gathers the townspeople, keeps everyone tight-lipped, and provides shelter together. In order to influence everyone, he made an idea for Grace to help each house, weeding apple trees or helping children with homework. It's touching that after the 15-day inspection period, all the townspeople -- including the eccentric Chuck -- voted for Grace to stay in town.
The next period of time is named happiness. Grace has brought a lot of good changes to the town. She teaches children to help adults as well, helps the blind with housework and listens quietly, and even gives women advice on skin care. Kind-hearted people have begun to accept this outsider, but the situation has undergone subtle changes. Gradually, Grace has gradually changed from an outsider who is obliged to help in seeking shelter to a maid who can be called around, and the situation has changed. It was getting worse and worse, and the result of Grace's blind tolerance was the gain of all the townspeople.
It starts with people being rude to her, naughty kids attack first, then Chuck's verbal harassment, while the police are in town, Chuck rapes her, Tom, the tall, handsome young man who claims he loves her People, bumped into but humblely pretended to know nothing, in a small town with only a dozen households, this kind of thing is of course known to everyone. Mrs. Chuck was probably the last to know, the woman who was considered very kind smashed seven of Grace's beloved little porcelain dolls and said, "If you can stop crying, I'll give you two more. "
Grace and Tom conspired with an escape plan, it's terrible, this sheltered man, this man who once thought he had found a paradise, is now running away, Tom stole ten dollars from Dad to pay off the truck driver, who was on the road again. Once raped Grace and took her back to Dogtown. It turned out that Tom's father found that he lost money, but Tom was afraid of taking responsibility and betrayed Grace. What's more tragic is that the villagers locked Grace with iron chains. around his neck, dragging a large iron wheel weighing dozens of kilograms.
Grace has completely turned into a slave. She's the child's tease, she's the man's tool, even the blind old man touches her genitals while he babbles, she's the woman's snarky object, Tom, the only one in town There were no people who raped her, but they saw each other less and less, and it could be said that she had been completely abandoned.
It snowed, and this woman was even more wronged than Dou E, and no one expected the final result.
Grace turns out to be the daughter of a mob boss, and when his kind father finds her, she must be the most pitiful person in the world. Grace had a long conversation with her father in the car, tears streaming down her cheeks, for what she had been ideals for, for this poor town, for good Tom and those who could have done a little better, saying: "There is a The woman had seven children, kept the adults, and said to her, 'If you can hold back from crying, I'll leave you two.'" Of course, no one can hold back from crying, and the town has nothing left. And Grace shot and killed Tom who tried to beg for mercy, leaving only a whimpering dog, probably only it did not bully Grace, this town became a complete dog town, at the end of the film, the mayor got up He barked a few times in the sky.
I think it's thankless to try to comment on this movie from the perspective of human nature, because the movie itself has said it very thoroughly, and quoting the sentence "kindness is relative" can't be more thought-provoking, let's watch the movie, from other Talk about it.
December 2003
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