{"id":771456,"date":"2023-01-31T08:22:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T13:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=771456"},"modified":"2023-01-31T08:55:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T13:55:57","slug":"i-trust-that-god-will-forgive-us-hungarian-director-judit-elek-talks-animal-cruelty-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=771456","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Trust That God Will Forgive Us\u2019: Hungarian director Judit Elek talks animal cruelty accusations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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In Judit Elek's film 'Memories of a River', several sheep were burned alive in front of the camera. Brigitte Bardot, the actor and animal rights activist, cursed her because of it.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

MARTA BALAGA:<\/strong> Hungarian director Judit Elek addressed the biggest controversy of her career at Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam. Answering Variety\u2019s question during the launch of \u201cThe Lady from Budapest,\u201d a new book dedicated to her legacy, Elek opened up about a scene from her film \u201cMemories of a River,\u201d which she still views as \u201cessential\u201d despite accusation of animal cruelty…<\/em><\/p>\n

In the film, inspired by an actual anti-Semitic incident back in the 1880s, as well as a trial for \u201critual murder,\u201d several sheep were burnt alive in front of the camera. \u201cThe beginning of the film is extremely brutal, because we are talking about a pogrom. The scene [depicting] sheep in flames, burning, is a representation of several millions of Jews perishing,\u201d she noted.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the day came when we had to shoot the scene of J\u00e1kob\u2019s [a shepherd played by Zolt\u00e1n Mucsi] house being set on fire, it had to be done in one take. You couldn\u2019t film it twice. The previous day, we took the sheep from the slaughterhouse. They were bare, naked. They were waiting to be slaughtered, so they were sheared already.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself: \u2018These sheep are destined to die. No matter what.\u2019 That was their fate. If we film this scene, they will die. And it will be painful for them. But it was also painful for the 6 million Jews who were killed during the Second World War.\u201d Elek admitted that Brigitte Bardot, the actor and animal rights activist, \u201ccursed her\u201d because of the film.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the book, obtained by Variety, Elek makes claims that if the animals hadn\u2019t been sheared, \u201cnothing would have happened\u201d as she has been doing tests with sheep hair and intended to \u201cimpregnate the sheep with a certain liquid.\u201d The final outcome was different, however. \u201cThe sheep were roasted alive, and at the end they were roasted in a pan, and we ate them,\u201d she states in the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a predecessor who also had animals killed in his film: Andrzej Wajda,\u201d continued Elek during the conversation. The Polish director, who died in 2016, received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement. He allegedly killed a horse on the set of his controversial 1965 drama \u201cThe Ashes.\u201d \u201cI think that both of us had to do this: we did it for a purpose. I knew him well and I know it was painful for him too. I trust that God will forgive us both”. <\/em>SOURCE…<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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