Keira Knightley has said her new post-war era film The Aftermath is extremely relevant today because it is about learning not to “demonise” each other.

The film, which is set in Germany in 1946, sees the British actress play a woman whose husband is assisting in the reconstruction effort in Hamburg.

Speaking at the premiere in London, Knightley said it is relevant in the current climate.

“It’s about building bridges,” said the actress, who co-stars with Alexander Skarsgard and Jason Clarke.

“It is about how we see each other as human beings and we don’t demonise each other and that’s obviously something that we need to do right now.”

Knightley, 33, went on: “At a point when we are so divided and there is such divisive rhetoric I think it is really interesting to think about a time where actually that generation triumphed and came together and rebuilt something that at the time must have seemed post-apocalyptic.

“And the strength that that must have taken on an individual level and on a national level, it’s something that we don’t learn about very much and that’s interesting isn’t it.”

Alexander Skarsgard and Keira Knightley
Alexander Skarsgard and Keira Knightley (PA)

Director James Kent said the message of the film is that people “can all work towards compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation”.

“And in a world where people are I feel slinging a lot of mud at each other, actually we just stop and listen to the other side and stretch out our hands, then we will get a lot further and we will be able to teach our young people how human beings ought to behave to each other,” he added.