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David 
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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| Post subject: Cannes |  |
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Not sure if anyone cares, but the Cannes Film Festival has just wrapped up for another year.
Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Badlands) won the Palme d'Or for The Tree of Life, while Lars Von Trier got kicked out of the festival for joking about being a nazi.
The fact that humourlessness is at such epidemic proportions in today's world is worth a thread on its own, but is anyone interested in the films. Anyone looking forward to some of these movies turning up at Melbourne International Film Festival in July?
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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| Quote: | | 1. In response to a question about his German roots and his interest in the Nazi aesthetic: "The only thing I can tell you is that I thought I was a Jew for a long time and was very happy being a Jew, then later on came [Danish and Jewish director] Susanne Bier, and suddenly I wasn't so happy about being a Jew. That was a joke. Sorry. But it turned out that I was not a Jew. If I'd been a Jew, then I would be a second-wave Jew, a kind of a new-wave Jew, but anyway, I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out that I was really a Nazi, because my family is German. And that also gave me some pleasure. So, I, what can I say? I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things but I can see him sitting in his bunker. [Kirsten Dunst goes, "Oh God!" and hides uncomfortably behind Lars.] I'm saying that I think I understand the man. He is not what we could call a good guy, but yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him ... But come on! I'm not for the Second World War. And I'm not against Jews. No, not even Susanne Bier. I am very much for them. As much as Israelis are a pain in the ass. How do I get out of this sentence? Okay, I am a Nazi. As for the art, I'm for Speer. Albert Speer I liked. He was also one of God's best children. He has a talent that ... Okay, enough" |
My initial reaction (as well as my Jewish girlfriend's) was that Von Trier is a very funny man. Should we be offended? The Anti Defamation League are jumping up and down and Cannes organisers have been beating Lars with a big holier-than-thou stick. It's all pretty silly, really.
The worst thing is all the journos and commentators calling Lars 'dumb'. What, it's so much smarter to have a pole up your arse?
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All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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watt price tully 
Joined: 15 May 2007
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[quote="David"] | Quote: | | The worst thing is all the journos and commentators calling Lars 'dumb'. What, it's so much smarter to have a pole up your arse? |
Why bring the Poles into it?
For a talented (& at times pretentious) film maker he certainly did put both feet in his mouth. I think dumb in this instance is most apt. Too clever by half. His actions certainly did not warrant the reaction - he was trying to be a smart arse & kicked an own goal. There are more important things in life than self important film director.
The fact that your girlfriend is Jewish is neither here nor there David.
Someone ought to buy Lars a tripod !
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“I even went as far as becoming a Southern Baptist until I realised they didn’t keep ‘em under long enough” Kinky Friedman |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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I mentioned that because, if she (as a Jewish grand-daughter of people who escaped from the Holocaust in Ukraine) isn't remotely offended, who is? And why?
I see this mass self-righteousness as a really insidious thing, and a real assault on freedom of speech. Brings to mind the Catherine Deveny/Bindi Irwin affair - who seriously gets upset by these things?
Von Trier was being a smart-arse, but even then failed to say anything seriously offensive. I think this incident reflects far more poorly on the people running the festival - it really made them come off as self-important boneheads. The sensationalist media also deserve a lot of the blame for creating these controversies out of nothing.
What's the worst thing that would happen if people had simply reacted "That's pretty funny" or "Wow, what a dumb joke" and not actually done anything about it?
In any case, I'm a nazi too. 
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watt price tully
Joined: 15 May 2007
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I thought Lars was being childish - didn't find it funny or offensive - & too vain to know when to get his feet out of his mouth.
The reaction is something different again - giving oxygen to a fool.
Like a lot of self important people he ought to have been ignored.
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“I even went as far as becoming a Southern Baptist until I realised they didn’t keep ‘em under long enough” Kinky Friedman |
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Black_White
Joined: 19 Mar 2001
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| Post subject: Re: Cannes | |
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| David wrote: | | Not sure if anyone cares, |
Answered your own question in the first line.
And yet you continued? |
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Black_White
Joined: 19 Mar 2001
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| watt price tully wrote: | | I thought Lars was being childish - |
Better he keeps his mouth shut and just concentrates on doing the surgery............ |
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