Review: This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Jerry Saravia
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: Three stars and a half
I always felt the MPAA was a sham. To this day, it may strike some as
odd that the original "Jaws" is rated PG and "2001: A Space Odyssey"
is rated G. "Jaws" is actually rather gory in parts with shots of a
severed head, Robert Shaw getting eaten alive by the shark, a kid
getting eaten by the shark with blood surfacing like a geyser, etc. An
R rating would've been more appropriate. "2001" could have yielded a
PG (since it was released before the PG-13 rating came into
prominence) if for no other reason than the fact that HAL kills four
astronauts on board the Jupiter. And there are various other examples
that raise questions ever since the advent of this hypocritical and
useless system. Director Kirby Dick doesn't answer many questions that
have always come to my mind about the ratings board, but he does raise
other eye-opening facts about the MPAA that may send shockwaves to
your gut.
For instance, you can be fined and jailed if you use a facisimile of
Mickey Mouse on a birthday cake! Okay, that is an unusual one. There
are more strict guidelines with regards to cinema. If you show a
female having an orgasm in an extreme close-up, you'll get an NC-17.
Clips are shown from "The Cooler" and Bertolucci's "The Dreamers" as
evidence of NC-17 rated films. Interestingly, "The Cooler" features
actress Maria Bello having the orgasm, who also had a rough sex scene
and a tender one in "A History of Violence" where she did climax and
that film got an R rating without sexual trims. Hmmm. The mind
boggles.
Sexuality amongst couples (straight and gay, though gay sex is more
often given the dreaded rating) as depicted in full frontal nudity
measured against the number of thrusts or humps is what drives these
members to rate the films accordingly. Apparently, the new trend is
frank sexual talk, as shown in clips from Kevin Smith's "Jersey Girl"
and John Waters' highly outrageous and hysterical "A Dirty Shame," and
if it is too frank or candid, it gets an R. If the talk is too
outrageous (as in Waters film) and smothered with actual penetrations
that are tastefully implied, it gets the NC-17. But one can agree that
"Pink Flamingos" is more NC-17 territory than "A Dirty Shame" yet both
films have the same rating.
Director Kirby Dick (who also appears on camera) hires some private
investigators to find out the identity of the anonymous MPAA board
members. We find out that most MPAA members are indeed parents, and at
least two of them are mature men who have kids that are well into
their twenties. Why is this relevant? Because since the majority of
this small group of MPAA members in Southern California are parents,
how can they dictate their rating choices from the perspective of a
parent who has children? Most mind-boggling question: why is the MPAA
suited to only a handful of people in Southern California, thus
representing what they think is best for all of America?
What is less problematic in terms of avoiding the NC-17 is violence,
thus getting poor Hilary Swank's head blown off in "Boys Don't Cry" is
far less unsavory than providing sexual pleasure to Chloe Sevigny
("Brown Bunny," anyone?) So sex, sex, sex in this Janet Jackson/post-
NippleGate era is far of a hindrance than bloodbaths in torture porn
or Iraq War documentaries. Yes, another stunning admission is that
Michael Tucker, the director of an Iraq War documentary called "Gunner
Palace," faced censorship by the board over something rather benign in
this day and age - foul-mouthed language. Yet the soldiers in the film
are real and are really saying such obscenities - so why not a PG
rating so the young men and women who are thinking of enlisting can
see the film? Truth is, Tucker asked for an appeal and got a PG-13
rating. Some appeals work, and some don't.
But there is almost no consistency in the ratings system. A brief clip
is shown from "Coming Home" from 1978, which features Jane Fonda
having an orgasm in close-up that lasts much longer than Maria Bello's
in "The Cooler." Yet "The Cooler" had to trim its orgasmic scene to
get the R rating (and avoid showing pubic hair). Maria Bello mentions
"Scary Movie" having a scene where Carmen Electra's breast is stabbed
with some blood pouring out of it (the film got an R rating). So it
seems that violence crossed with sexuality gets a free pass from the
prohibitive NC-17 rating.
Director Kirby Dick also makes mention of the former head of the MPAA,
Jack Valenti, and how his political ties may have shaped the MPAA into
what it is today. That is a possibility after 40 years of service,
considering that politics governs our corporations which make up most
of the U.S. media outlets. Therefore, censorship is the driving
principle, using children as the backbone of our country. Please.
During the advent of the NC-17 rating in 1990, the late Valenti once
told Roger Ebert that he can make no distinction between artistic
bestiality and non-artistic, thus the proposed "A" (for adults) rating
by Ebert could never work.
If there had been a little less focus on the detectives, Kirby Dick's
film might have been more complete. There are some shots shown of Todd
Solondz's film, "Storytelling," but they are without context. If
anyone has seen the film, the scene in question shows a man anally
penetrating Selma Blair standing against a wall. The shots of the man,
a professor, from behind were cut. So Solondz showed the scene with a
red box superimposed over it. What made the MPAA nervous? Possibly
because it was a black man having sex with Blair? After all, maybe a
black man is only allowed so many thrusts. Some of these controversies
could've had more screen time. Also, I would've loved to hear how the
ratings have changed over forty years since the days of X-rated films
like "A Clockwork Orange" and "Midnight Cowboy."
Let's face it, if we are thinking about the children and only the
children when it comes to any movie, then I'd hope that they are more
likely to see pubic hair, breasts and penises before seeing any
horrifying violence in their own lives. At least I hope so. But I
suppose I should be more conservative and think that kids should be
protected from sexuality. Abstain from sex, not violence. Scary
thought.
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