← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Julian the Apostate
Thread ID: 12534 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2004-02-26
2004-02-26 07:59 | User Profile
[url]http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=287212[/url]
Movie distributor cancels plan to show watercolor by Hitler
Thursday, February 5, 2004 at 04:15 JST TOKYO ââ¬â A Japanese film distributor said Wednesday it has decided not to display a watercolor by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Tokyo as announced a day earlier, after it was flooded with inquiries from the media both in and outside Japan.
Toshiba Entertainment Inc, distributor of the film "Max" which is about Hitler's artistic ambitions, had planned to display the painting at a Tokyo theater from Feb 7-15 to coincide with the screening of the film.
"The exhibition was planned for people who might be interested in Hitler's paintings after seeing the movie," Toshiba said. "But the media reaction was greater than we had expected and it is possible that the painting exhibition alone would become the focus."
The distributor had said Tuesday that even though it is taboo in Europe to display art by Hitler, the painting is something that would enable people to have a "level-headed view of the human side of Hitler."
"Max" was criticized when it opened in the United States in December 2002 by some who worried it would humanize one of history's most reviled figures. The Jewish Defense League issued a statement asking American distributor Lions Gate to shelve it.