10 peliculas censuradas por la religion

As everyone knows, if there’s a truth to criticism, the recipient will react. And, as everyone knows, banning a movie makes it immediately more sought after. Armed with these two miraculous little truths, we examine the top ten movies banned thanks to pressure from religious groups, with a few interesting – and surprising – results.

10. The Last Temptation of Christ

Whilst we wouldn’t want to discourage, or comment negatively, upon a director’s right to show controversial religious imagery in their works of art, we certainly can’t understand how on earth Universal Pictures ever thought this movie would slip gently under the religious radar. Didn’t they hear? God is omnipresent. The Last Temptation of Christ is a good movie, by a great director (Martin Scorsese, no less), but it isn’t really surprising that – back in the eighties – scenes in which Christ himself kisses other dudes and engages in sexual intercourse might cause a teeny bit of a furor. The movie was banned in a handful of countries, with censors wary of the film’s religious content, and it is still banned in the Philippines and Singapore. It also drove a gang of religious zealots to firebomb a Parisian cinema that was showing it. Very forgiving.

9. The Profit

If there’s one golden rule in Hollywood, it’s that you gotta have stones if you’re planning on taking on Scientologists. Much like “that kid” in elementary school, the affluent devotees of L. Ron Hubbard’s fairy tale sci-fi nonsense might believe they’re basically Jedi knights, but in this case delusion doesn’t necessarily equate to weakness. Ever philosophical and level-headed, Scientologists have a good track record of coming down like a ton of bricks on any of the big bad bullies that poke fun at them, even causing the temporary halting of shows as big as South Park. So it’s fair to say budget movie The Profit – a thinly veiled lampoon of religious cults in the same vein as Scientology – didn’t stand a chance. A lawsuit issued by the church led to a court order banning it from distribution, adding truth to that old saying about the nut jobs having the great lawyers.

8. The Passion of the Christ

Gibbering, demi-drunk bone-hole Mel Gibson is no stranger to controversy – or right wing sentiment – having been quoted countless times spouting various shades of hateful crap, possibly when inebriated. So it should come as no surprise that a movie that he conceived and directed might cause something of a stir in religious circles. The Passion of The Christ, Gibson’s inexplicably popular magnum opus, has been viewed variously as the anti-Semitic ramblings of a knuckle-headed souse or the masterful religious dedication of a genius. Its depiction of Christ’s rather painful-looking demise caused the movie to be banned by the Malaysian government for everyone except – obscurely – Christian audience members. Although it wasn’t actually banned in Israel, it was somewhat understandably boycotted, receiving no theatrical distribution.

7. Lemora: A Child’s Tale of The Supernatural

Up until the 1980s, the Catholic League of Decency was one of the most influential organized groups of ball aches in the US. They even had their own system of classifications, whose most extreme condemnation was “Morally unobjectionable.” Clearly these guys meant business. The Richard Blackburn 1975 horror movie, Lemora: A Child’s Tale of The Supernatural, was one movie that fell foul of the Bible-loving do-gooders. Featuring pedophilia, lesbianism and incest, plus dabblings with that ol’ Catholic favorite, the occult, we guess it was only a matter of time before theaters wouldn’t touch this movie with a very long stick thanks to pressure from the CLD. It was so denounced that until very recently it was still difficult to find a copy of it anywhere except France. Make of that what you will.

6. Brokeback Mountain

It’s probably fair to say that most religious groups aren’t exactly keen on the gay community, so it was inevitable that a mainstream movie which revolves around two homosexual cowboys getting acquainted in a tent might not cut the mustard with the God squad. It was in certain Arabic countries – where homosexuality is often banned outright on religious grounds – that 2005′s Brokeback Mountain received the most scathing criticism, and a good deal of censorship, plus a banning to boot in the United Arab Emirates. Here in the US the movie was given an unhindered distribution, albeit against the incessant braying of a scattering of right wing nuts with time on their hands.

5. The Magdalene Sisters

For an institution steeped in stiff moral fiber, the Catholic Church sure does get some bad press in the movie world. In 2002, Peter Mullen’s movie, The Magdalene Sisters, caused such a stir with the cloth that it was officially banned by The Vatican. The movie depicts – supposedly with toned down accuracy – the atrocious conditions in which “fallen” Irish Catholic women were kept during their stays in Magdalene Asylums, workhouses in which they were meant to be looked after. Whether it truly touched a nerve or whether the Pope was just tired of all the defamation, we can’t say, but one thing that’s certain is that Mullen won’t be holidaying in Rome anytime soon.

4. The Matrix

The movie that spawned a thousand crappy online pseudonyms for nerds, the leather-trenchcoat-a-thon of the late nineties we know as The Matrix is one of the more surprising entries on this list. It was banned in a number of countries after it was deemed too sensitive to air a movie that so wantonly screwed around with the concept of man’s maker. Egypt was the country most vehemently opposed to the Wachowski duo’s slow motion masterpiece, stating that, “Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in.”

3. Bruce Almighty

Perhaps the stupidest movie on the list to be banned, 2003′s Bruce Almighty, showcasing condom-faced comedian Jim Carrey’s predictable performance as a man temporarily blessed with the powers of God, didn’t go down too well in certain domains. Proving that even in our enlightened new millennium, causing offense is still all too easy, the fairly docile family comedy managed to receive an outright ban in Egypt and Malaysia (though the latter country eventually lifted the restriction), thanks to objections raised by Islamic groups that it was offensive to depict God as an ordinary man.

2. The Devils

Based on the Aldous Huxley book The Devils of Loudon – itself based on the predicaments of a priest living in Poitiers in the 16th century, burnt at the stake for seeing that a group of nuns were “possessed” – Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave played the lead roles in this 1971 movie. Part of the controversy surrounding The Devils related to an orgy scene in which crazed nuns sexually assaulted an image of Christ, and a generally unfavorable commentary on Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church, throughout. Censorship and ratings boards denounced the movie – with the the British Board of Film Censors being pressured by the socially conservative pressure group the Festival of Light – which prompted a lengthy editing process on the final cut, including the deletion of the aforementioned scene and half of another involving a sister masturbating using one of the priest’s burnt bones. Further explicit nudity was cut in the US, and in Britain it was totally outlawed by no less than 17 local authorities.

1. Monty Python’s Life of Brian

One of the funniest creations to have come from the collective comedy brain that is Monty Python, The Life of Brian is incredibly tame by modern standards, but that didn’t stop it from coming under massive scrutiny from religious groups following its release in 1979. The light-hearted take on one man’s comedic capers after being mistaken for the Messiah rubbed certain religious spoilsports up the wrong way, leading to numerous protests outside movie theaters in the UK and the US on grounds of the movie’s perceived blasphemy. On top of the film’s comments on religious infighting and fanaticism, the scene in which Brian is crucified proved particularly controversial, with some claiming it made a mockery of Jesus’ suffering. The movie was banned in numerous constituencies in Britain, as well as a handful of countries (it was famously sold in Sweden as “The film so funny that it was banned in Norway”), with some of those bans continuing on into the 21st century. So this is why they say religion lacks a sense of humor…