Elon Musk promotes violent film depicting Croatia as Europe-stan

Elon Musk has used his global platform to promote Citizen Vigilante, a low-budget thriller that depicts the Croatian capital of Zagreb as a lawless territory overrun by migrants. The film, written, produced, and directed by German exploitation filmmaker Uwe Boll, stars Armie Hammer as an American ex-soldier who takes over his late father’s property empire in Croatia and embarks on a violent rampage.

Hammer’s character, Sanders, shoots Muslims, tasers teenagers, and murders police officers whose only offense is attempting to arrest him. He also targets judges and migrants he accuses of being gang-rapists, frequently posting ranting videos of himself online. The film features a montage of social media users from around the world praising his actions.

The violence is justified in the script as a necessary response to what the character describes as an "unfriendly takeover by Islamist extremists and the blind-sided woke left." It is a crude fictionalisation that attempts to ape American vigilante classics like Death Wish, Dirty Harry, and Taxi Driver, though it entirely lacks their passion, style, wit, or competent production values.

For a European public, the film’s artistic failures are secondary to its role as a vehicle for transatlantic political messaging. Musk has promoted the project globally online, pushing the narrative of a "fiercely imagined lawless migrant-caliphate of Europe-stan." This mirrors a broader tactic employed by figures like US Vice President JD Vance, who are eager to divert American attention from domestic issues by fabricating a European dystopia.

The casting of Hammer adds another layer of absurdity to the project. Once a celebrated actor in films like Call Me By Your Name and the great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer, his career collapsed in 2021 following sexual assault allegations. Charges were ultimately dropped due to a lack of evidence, with Hammer maintaining the encounters were consensual. His return to the screen, in a film widely dismissed as incoherent and badly acted, marks a steep decline.

By amplifying a poorly made German exploitation film to push a fictionalised narrative about Croatian society, US tech and political leaders are actively distorting Europe’s image. The promotion of Citizen Vigilante is simply the latest attempt to "flood the zone" with sensationalist content that treats the continent as a prop in America’s internal culture wars.