Bill Brummel: Erasing Hate

Danish DR/Dokumania shows tomorrow the American tv (NBC) documentary “Erasing Hate”. I got a link to watch it for a review, I could go through the first third of the film then the link went on strike. So no points are being given but impressions from what I saw and clips found on the internet:

The story is simple: Bryon Widner used to be “ready to kill for the white race.” For 15 years he was a skinhead, he was a neo-nazi. One of the worst, an expert in the field says. Bryon, that is what he says, “became a role model for many”. But he changed his mind when he found Julie, who was also part of the movement, they got a baby and decided to leave their violent past behind. BUT Bryon was tattooed all over, he wanted to get rid of the “signification of a killer”. So, that’s the story… people from an organisation that investigates the far right movements in the US meet with Bryon and Julie, wants to help and an anonymous donor pays for the plastic surgery that is extremely painful.

It is indeed an American documentary: Narration, interviews where you hear the interviewer, close-up of the tattoos, music from “wall to wall”, reenactments, sweet sequences from the family life etc. No surprises, but pretty hard to watch the plastic surgery going on! A quote from the doctor: Your heart has changed, now we need to change the surface…

http://www.erasinghatethemovie.com/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/10/31/erasing-hate-reformed-skinhead-endures-agony-to-remove-hateful-tattoos/

(This article give the whole story in details).

To be shown on DR, Dokumania Tuesday April 22

USA, 91 mins., 2011

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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