Imagine the bucolic setting of a small Colorado town named Dogville, during the 1930s. Ma Ginger’s (Lauren Bacall) delightful little general store holds sway on Elm Street and Chuck’s (Stellan Skarsgaard) apple orchard is just down the road. Your imagination will have to work overtime on this motion picture, you think. This is a bare-bones theatrical production, filmed entirely on a soundstage, with chalk outlines placing the locations of the streets, the houses, even Moses the dog and "the old lady’s bench." But surprisingly, for both of us, that was not an issue after the first 15 minutes. What we appreciated was the pure excellence of performance from everyone in the cast.

You have entered the ultimately dog eat dog world of "Dogville," and the mind of Lars von Trier, the film’s writer/director. If you saw "Dancer in the Dark" you know what we mean. The film offers a somewhat bizarre approach to doing a screenplay but go with it, if you can; the outcome is worth the trip.

Shots ring out from the valley below one night as Tom Edison Jr. (Paul Bettany of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," and by the way, not that Tom Edison), makes his way along Elm Street. He spots the beautiful Grace (Nicole Kidman), obviously being pursued by the gunmen, hides her in the town’s abandoned silver mine, and he tells the gangsters in the large black cars that he’s seen no one. Later when the police inquire about Grace, he maintains her secrecy.

Tom calls the townspeople together, and he persuades them to allow Grace to stay for two weeks, in exchange for doing chores for them in their homes and businesses each day. At first they protest, claiming they don’t need help. Then, as Grace notes, there’s an awful lot of nothing to do. She charms Ma Ginger into allowing her to prune her precious gooseberry bushes, and she gets Mr. McKay (a grizzled Ben Gazarra) to admit that he’s blind.

Things take a definite turn for the worse when the police return to town with a wanted poster that now includes a reward. No one turns Grace in but Dogville begins to "bare its teeth," demanding twice the work from her, and nearly all of her dignity.

Stellan Skarsgaard and Patricia Clarkson, as Chuck and Vera, the parents of seven children, provide two of the film’s most startling moments of truth. Their performances shatter the quiet solicitude created by von Trier, though this is clearly Kidman’s vehicle. Her "triumph" is complete in the end.

When the film premiered at Cannes last year, it was thought by many to be anti-American; eschewing our value system and how we treat others. See it and judge for yourself.

George’s take: The anti American sentiment conclusion is more right than wrong. The film doesn’t shout, "I hate America" but rather paints a landscape of how people who otherwise admire and respect us convey what they don’t like about us. With America’s financial and military power, combined with our cultural influence, we are often perceived as arrogant. We know how we see others (e.g., France and China) and Dogville provides a glimpse as to what we look like to our friends.

Pam’s take: There is no doubt that the film presents an unflattering view of part of American culture. As the end credits roll, there is a striking montage of photographs depicting American poverty from the Depression Era of the 1930’s to the present day. More important, von Trier demonstrates what our reactions are to these conditions, violence and a grab at power, wherever we may find it.