Danish Director Explains Cannes Boot



Lars von Trier
(Cannes, France) Early last week, Danish film director Lars on Trier was booted from the Cannes Film Festival for his public statements regarding Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. In fact, during an interview he blurted out, "Okay, I am a Nazi."

In a followup interview appearing in Spiegel Online, Von Trier explained himself, sorta. Here's an excerpt.

First of all, I have a very famous Danish Jewish name. All my children have Jewish names. I have spent half of my life investigating my Jewish past, which turned out not to be my past because my father was not my father.

I found out that I was not Jewish but a German. In the slang we use in Denmark -- which is not funny, but stupid -- a German is called a Nazi. So I was not a Jew but a Nazi, not meaning I was a Nazi, but meaning I was a German.[…]

I have been to all these concentration camps and I think that the Holocaust is the worst crime in humanity. And I was naïve. Coming from Denmark, I thought this was some time ago and we should open up a little. This was wrong. It was stupid of me and I apologize for the pain I have inflicted on some people.

If anyone would like to hit me, they are perfectly welcome. I must warn you, though, that I might enjoy it. So maybe it's not the right kind of punishment.

Von Trier went on to say that the subject of Nazis is particularly "delicate" in Cannes because the French have a history of being "especially cruel" to Jews. So, he blames the French and regional narrow-mindedness. Hey, pal, you need to get out more.

Frankly, it appears that Von Trier is blockaded with self-destructive egocentrism. Presumably, hopefully, other Danes don't share Von Trier's a distorted viewpoint. There's more at the link.