Sarah Moore
Get to relive history with Ashley Eakin’s short heartfelt film Forgive Us Our Trespasses which premieres on February 17 on Netflix.
On Monday, January 31, Netflix listed the film, among others to be released this month. Their Twitter post sums up the film as follows, “In 1939 Germany, a disabled fam boy is pursued by Nazi Soldiers after Hitler enacts Aktion T4; a program to euthanize people with disabilities.”
FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES
(On Netflix February 17)
In 1939 Germany, a disabled farm boy is pursued by Nazi soldiers after Hitler enacts Aktion T4; a program to euthanize people with disabilities. pic.twitter.com/NiwlwOjIjO— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) January 31, 2022
This 14-minute film is a production of the Netflix Emerging Filmmaker Initiative. Eakin, the director and co-writer remarked on her website (ashleyeakin.com) that while the subject matter of the film can be unsettling, it tackles a history that should never be shunned but examined.
Eakin also posted the film’s poster, together with a preview video showcasing the disabled boy in a math class perfectly writing with his left hand as his right limb is deformed. The maths teacher poses arithmetic but somewhat psychological question, “If a German family costs 5.50 reichsmark a day to live, but the cost to feed and care for one person with a hereditary disease is 12 reichsmark a day, what is the difference in the value lost to the German people?”
A young boy named Karl then asks the teacher, “If it costs so much to take care of these people, what do we do?” A slightly older boy seated at the back of the class then gives a dark and chilling response, “You kill them.”
Set in Nazi Germany, Forgive Us Our Trespasses features Knox Gibson as a young boy with a limb deformity. When Hitler launches a mission to hunt down and kill the disabled, the boy runs away to save his life. Everywhere he goes, people want him dead, forcing him to make a critical decision as to what happens next. Also starring in the film are Hanneke Talbot and Justin Mader.
This agonizing story will probably linger in your mind long after watching it.
