I feel that this film falls apart with a straightforward viewing.
I was very pleased with Manderlay and thoroughly frustrated by simplistic the reviews I read of it.
The card shark was an international lending institution like the World Bank or the IMF and the "prince" was a corrupt leader who sold out his people for a cut of the profits of the international business elites (like Marcos, Suharto, or seemingly countless others). I found many other characters to be representations of a global system of oppression. The most direct comparison is "operation iraqi freedom" and other US nation building exercises or sponsored coups. Their society did not function when the arrogant outsider who thought she knew what was best for them began implementing her system with force. The democracy she implemented was a complete farce. The inhabitants of Manderlay were free within their system, but Grace was so completely blinded by what her culture had taught her about "freedom" and "democracy" and the inferiority of all other ways of life. The system in Manderlay was not overseer/slave, the system was socialism/communism and each "slave," as Grace saw them, had his or her own specialized role.
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The film then transformed into a statement about the presumption that "we" can teach others how to govern when "they" may have a system that works better in their context. This is an easy interpretation that lives on the surface. I found myself first seeing through a very direct lens of a slave narrative/American liberal white guilt. I've only seen the film once, but I felt that the most consistent interpretation was strictly about arrogant imperialism.
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