This past May legendary director Lars von Trier made some comments at the Cannes Film Festival that didn't exactly sit well with some people. Promoting his newest film, Melancholia, during a press conference, von Trier used the opportunity to joke that he "understands Hitler," call himself a Nazi, and suggest that his next project would be The Final Solution. As one could expect, this didn't exactly sit well with people and the festival ended up banning the filmmaker from all future events. Now four months later, his comments are coming back to haunt him.
Reuters is reporting that von Trier is now being questioned by Danish police for breaking French law. It is unknown if charges have actually been filed against the director, but in a statement to the press the accused cited ""charges made by the prosecution of Grasse in France from August 2011 regarding a possible violation of prohibition in French law against justification of war crimes." Following the news, von Trier announced that he will no longer be making any public statements and will not be doing any more interviews, as he no longer "possess the skills to express [himself] unequivocally."
This really is ridiculous. All of the reports out of Cannes said that von Trier was joking when he made his remarks, and the idea that he "justified war crimes" or "incited racial hatred" (which the police claim) is absurd. If it was reasonable to be arrested for making Hitler jokes, half of the people in YouTube comments sections would be rotting behind bars.
