Replacing Nicole Kidman as the ideallistic Grace from 2003's Dogville is Bryce Dallas Howard, fresh from her scene-stealing debut in The Village.

Grace is travelling across America with her father and a team of gangsters when they happen across a small community of slaves under the control of the feeble and dying Mam.

It's seventy years since slavery has been outlawed, and Grace elects to stay behind and help the newly freed slaves rebuild the settlement, one based on freedom rather than repression.

All the good intentions in the world can't save Grace, however, as internal conflicts within the group, shady con men, and inclement weather conspire to bring the community to its knees.

At first glance this is a film that seems to concern itself primarily with the nature of race relations in the US.

Its questions, however, delve deeper than that: they explore the human condition, the nature of idealism and pragmatism, and how our background dictates our definition of liberty.

Whilst the film feels every bit of its 140 minutes, it is much more concerned with ideas than with entertainment.

Whilst she may not have the screen presence of Kidman, Howard is nonetheless excellent in the lead role, at once strong headed and vulnerable.

The rest of the cast perform admirably too, Glover in particular a standout as the seemingly wise and knowing Wilhelm.

The sparse and contrived nature of the production design, a giant studio space with painted lines and doorless buildings, at first disconcerting, ultimately allows your attention to rest where it should - on the ideas, the dialogue and the performances.

Like Dogville, Manderlay has been accused of being anti-American. To a certain extent, this is true - it is a study in both current and historical problems that exist within US society.

Its target is broader than that, however, its ambitions greater. And whilst it might not be to everybody's taste, its deliberate pace and whimsical feel very different from anything else being made at the moment.

And for that reason alone, it is a film well worth seeing.

Nick Forward