Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Lars von Trier = Foot-in-mouth disease

Lars von Trier


There are people who just can't help putting their feet in their mouths. And then there's Norwegian director Lars von Trier.

As you might recall from an earlier post on this site, the renowned director made some off-the-cuff comments at Cannes this year, talking about how he understood Hitler and how he wished he was a Jew but that Hitler was still just a misunderstood guy (I'm paraphrasing here) and that he's "very much for the Jews. [But] no, not too much. Because Israel is a pain in the ass."

von Trier then apologized at Cannes for the remarks.

Most normal people would have left it at that. But not Herr von Trier.

This dim "luminary" decides to retract his apology this week. Wanna know the spurious reasoning behind the retration? See JTA's piece below:

(JTA) -- Director Lars von Trier has retracted his apology for his expressions of sympathy for Hitler and Nazis at the Cannes Film Festival.

In an interview in this month's GQ magazine, von Trier said his apologies at and immediately after Cannes, where he was declared a persona non grata and removed from the festival in May, were not sincere and forced, the Toronto Sun reported.

"I'm not sorry. I am not sorry for what I said," he told GQ. "I'm sorry that it didn't come out more clearly. I'm not sorry that I made a joke. But I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear that it was a joke."

Von Trier had said during a news conference at Cannes that “I really wanted to be a Jew, and then I found out that I was really a Nazi because, you know, my family was German, which also gave me some pleasure.

“What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end. He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews. I am very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass."

Will somebody just tell this man to zip it? And oh, maybe start making some watchable films?

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