MANDERLAY is an independent piece of work from Lars Von Trier’s trilogy which began with DOGVILLE. After leaving Dogville, Grace travels across America accompanied by her father and a small group of heavily armed gangsters. In the backwaters of Alabama they pass the estate Manderlay, where everything including time itself stands still. Even though slavery has been abandoned a long time ago, the inhabitants of Manderlay live by a brutal system with masters and slaves. Despite her father’s advice about not interfering, Grace makes it her responsibility to free Manderlay. With help from the gangsters and their weapons, she tries to teach the sceptic inhabitants about the blessings of democracy.
