“Russian lives matter too!” That’s what the Danish filmmaker wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, August 22.
von Trier, who is behind titles such as “Dancer in the dark” and “Melancholia” addressed the post to “Mr. Zelenskyj, Mr. Putin and above all Mrs. Frederiksen (who yesterday, like someone head over heels in love, posed in the cockpit of one of our most terrifying killing machines and grinned from ear to ear)”.
von Trier’s criticism of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) was aimed at Denmark’s gift to Ukraine, which consisted of F-16 fighter jets. This in connection with President Volodomyr Zelenskyj visiting Denmark.
Oleksij Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, commented on Lars von Trier’s post on X, formerly Twitter. Danilov wrote, among other things, that “War is not a film where actors act life and death. Behind every living Russian terrorist there is a dead Ukrainian. The choice between the executioner and the victim becomes a tragedy when the artist chooses the executioner’s side.”
Lars von Trier wrote a new post on August 24 and clarified “I support Ukraine with every heartbeat! I was just stating the obvious: that all lives in this world matter. A forgotten phrase it seems, from a time when pacifism was a virtue”.