Hunters criticised by Auschwitz Memorial for inaccuracy
Fictional series on Amazon Prime cops a serve for a macabre caricature with a human chess game.
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Newly-released Amazon Prime series Hunters has come under fire from the Auschwitz Memorial for being historically inaccurate.
The fictional series is set in 1970s America and follows a group of vigilantes as they hunt down underground Nazis and make them pay for their crimes. It stars Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Josh Radnor, Jerrika Hinton and Tiffany Boone.
But on social media the Auschwitz Memorial called a violent scene featuring a human chess game “dangerous foolishness” and a “caricature.” In a scene, which is depicted in the opening credits of all 10 episodes and plays out in the first episode, a Jewish chess master is held captive and forced to play a game of chess where the pieces are represented by fellow prisoners. A person is killed whenever the chess player loses a piece.
“Auschwitz was full of horrible pain & suffering documented in the accounts of survivors. Inventing a fake game of human chess for @huntersonprime is not only a dangerous foolishness & caricature. It also welcomes future deniers. We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy,” the account wrote.
Creator David Weil responded in a statement, explaining that “symbolic representations provide individuals access to an emotional and symbolic reality that allows us to better understand the experiences of the Shoah.”
He added, “It is not documentary. And it was never purported to be.”
The memorial’s Twitter account said that it offers consultation services for TV and movies that want to portray scenes accurately, but said “not many of them come for a consultation.”
Source: Variety
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3 Responses
There’s a Kurt Vonnegut short story (All The King’s Horses from Welcome To The Monkey House) which involves a human chess game. Possibly an inspiration for this scene?
Yes, anyone making a Holocaust movie or TV show has a few guidelines attached, it is not a genre easily open to re-interpretation not without some questions being asked about the motivation for doing so.
Hunters is made in a mock superhero comic book style diverting to justify the violence to come, showing viewers the reality of Nazi death camps like Auschwitz, so I guess you have to ponder the creative direction taken by of the shows creators. The emphasis on America giving Nazis refugee status is interesting.
I am not Jewish nor a Holocaust survivor but I don’t think that scene was as bad as some of the other scenes in the show. I personally thought some of the violence was very cartoonish in the way it was portrayed in keeping with the tone of the show. Have to say g he show had me riveted & i binged it over 2 days.