Sunday, July 09, 2006

Minimum Movie Violence Requirements

This is... odd:
...Amir [Muhammed], 34, is one of this country's leading independent filmmakers, and from the point of view of the authorities, something of a pest. His newest film, "The Last Communist," is, as he puts it, "a semi-musical documentary road movie" based on the life of Chin Peng, once the leader of the outlawed Malayan Communist Party. (Mr. Chin, now 84, is an exile in Thailand.) It was to have been the first local documentary to open theatrically in Malaysia. Instead, it is the first Malaysian film to be banned at home.

(snip)

After a screening was held for Malaysian members of Parliament, the home minister, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, said the real problem was that the absence of violence in the documentary could create the misconception that Chin Peng was not himself violent. "It will be like allowing a film portraying Osama bin Laden as a humble and charitable man to be screened in the United States," Mr. Radzi told a local newspaper.

Mr. Amir said, "I think this is the first time a film has been banned for not being violent enough."
Only in not-America.

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