In Defense of Britney. (Really.)

So, it looks like Britney Spears may be back on the silver screen in the near future — in a Holocaust movie:

Spears… is reportedly reviewing a script for a film tentatively titled “The Yellow Star of Sophia and Eton.” The flick would see her playing a character named Sophia LaMont who travels back in time to fall in love with a Jewish concentration camp prisoner named Eton. In a tricky critique of ongoing anti-Semitism, the script concludes with the lovebirds travelling back to the present day before being killed by Nazis.

Jewish groups are, predictably, less than pleased:

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has said she is horrified at the prospect of Britney making a Holocaust film. “In films that deal with the Holocaust, the script should be carefully chosen and the cast picked with care,” Knobloch told the German tabloid Bild. “It is reprehensible to combine the issue of the Holocaust with Britney Spears in an attempt to secure financing for the film ‘The Yellow Star of Sophia and Eton.’ Ethical considerations should have priority.”

I can certainly understand the reaction, and there are all kinds of things that could go wrong with the project — assuming the movie ever gets made, which is always a big if.  But, assuming that the script is good, I agree with John Aravosis at AMERICAblog that a Holocaust movie with Britney Spears in it would expose an entire generation of young people — both in the US and abroad — to a historical event that they might otherwise never hear about, much less have any interest in.  That seems like a very good thing.

Besides, a good actor doesn’t guarantee a good Holocaust movie.  The Boy in the Stryped Pajamas starred David Thewlis and Life is Beautiful starred Roberto Benigni, and they were both awful, offensive movies.  By contrast, The Grey Zone starred David Arquette of Scream fame — and it was terrific, one of the most underrated movies of its kind.