Any film has earned Armie Hammer a chance to work again. His return to the cinema with ‘Citizen Vigilante’ is being especially controversial, but not because of the participation of the reviled actor, accused of sexual abuse, but because of the content of the film directed by Uwe Boll, widely criticized for its racist and xenophobic discourse. The film has not obtained a classification from FSK, the German age rating body, which has prevented its commercial distribution in Germany, where the Canadian-born director, considered by many to be one of the worst filmmakers of recent decades, resides.
‘Citizen Vigilante’ tells the story of a man who, outraged by the deterioration of security and public order, decides to take justice into his own hands. Becoming a vigilante, he pursues and punishes criminals and rapists, mostly presented as Muslim immigrants, as well as the political leaders and authorities who, according to the film, allow or cover up these crimes.
According to El Confidencial, the obvious xenophobia of the film has provoked the intervention of the German film authorities, who have decided to prohibit its exhibition and sale in the country. However, the film has also found support in other places, such as the United States and Italy. Elon Musk, owner of X, has even gone so far as to publish the entire feature film for free on the social network, where copies have subsequently begun to proliferate.
As El Confidencial also details, in Italy an Instagram account linked to the extreme right, known for spreading videos about urban crime, has announced the organization of free screenings of the film in Rome.
Boll has publicly defended the content of ‘Citizen Vigilante’, which he has come to define as “the movie that Hollywood doesn’t want you to see.” Meanwhile, the film has managed to be among the most viewed titles on several streaming platforms in the United States, although the reception by specialized critics has been mostly negative, if not disastrous.
