A Serbian Film banned by the Classification Review Board
UPDATE 20/9/2011: Yesterday this blog was the first news outlet to confirm that director Srdjan Spasojevic’s A Serbian Film has been banned by the Classification Review Board. This afternoon the CRB distributed an official media release which opens with the following sentences:
A three member panel of the Classification Review Board (the Review Board) has by unanimous decision determined that the film A Serbian Film is classified RC (Refused Classification).
In the Review Board’s opinion, A Serbian Film could not be accommodated within the R 18+ classification as the level of depictions of sexual violence, themes of incest and depictions of child sexual abuse in the film has an impact which is very high and not justified by context.
What the release doesn’t explain is why the same film was green lit for distribution in Australia with an R+ rating only three weeks ago. The fact that the CRB can come up with two very different rulings, as I noted below, sends a clear message that our classification system is fickle and inconsistent.
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Director Srdjan Spasojevic’s controversial psychosexual thriller A Serbian Film was given an RC (Refused Classification) rating this afternoon by the Classification Review Board, effectively banning it from sale and distribution in Australia. The CRB will release an official statement tomorrow, but their decision — a U-turn on their ruling in April to pass it with an R18+ rating — was revealed late this afternoon on Twitter by the film’s distributor, Accent Films, who broadcast the following tweet to their less than 400 followers:
A SERBIAN FILM has been refused classification by the Classification Review Board. That’s democracy, right? What’s next, a media inquiry???
The film was initially banned by the CRB in November 2010. Accent shaved two minutes off the running time, re-submitted it for classification, and it was banned again in February. A second censored version was passed in April and released on DVD in August in every state except South Australia, where it was KBed by the state’s Classification Council (the only state body with the power to overturn federal classifications).
South Australian Attorney-General John Rau, who watched the film, urged the government to overturn its classification. Rau said last month:
I am strongly of the opinion that A Serbian Film should not be released at all and I have asked the federal government to take urgent action to reconsider its classification of the film. Some of the scenes in the DVD are so depraved that I am not prepared to even describe them in any detail.
Given today’s ruling, Rau will presumably be celebrating right about now with a fresh cup of camomile chased by a cheeky after dinner lamington.
One of the side effects of the CRB’s decision is that it detracts from the organisation as a reputable decision-making body. To give the film a green light one week, and rescind that decision three weeks later, with potentially significant effects on the stores that bought copies and the distributor which supplied them, sends a message that our classification system is fickle and inconsistent.
Accent Films smelt something funny in the air. At 6:35pm they tweeted:
BTW, we have a great relationship with Classification Board. This is really not their doing. It’s political.
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How frustrating for Australian audiences as well as retailers. I can’t imagine what people will have to resort to now to see this film…
Amazon.co.uk – too easy.
Is the film really that good that people will go to extraordinary lengths
to see it? Or is the desire to see if based on the banning, a FU to the
authorities?
I’ll admit it now, I haven’t seen it, and have no desire to. After reading
Luke’s original review I did look at the Wiki page which describes the
“plot”. Nasty, degrading stuff.
I think free speech is vital, but I would not be willing to campaign
for this movie to be given classification on the grounds of freedom of
expression.
No worries log onto Pirate Bay anddownload a nice torrent for Bluray rip – all good.
Censorship smensorship!
No, it’s not that good, but it’s not that bad either. It’s basically Hostel-esque gorno horror with the added porn plot which allows even more taboo content. I think people should have the right to see it if they want to though. Yes it will upset people and gross them out, but it’s not the film you watch if you don’t want to be grossed out. I think what’s most disturbing is the fact the CRB can go back and forth on decisions like this, what’s changed?
Is that where we’re at? Just pushing and pushing and pushing at the boundaries/taboos because we’ve run out of useful things to say?
Is there a line in the sand but this film hasn’t crossed it?
Most disturbing? Really? Not the fact that someone would have made this truly horrible stuff in the first place?
The press release on the classification board website states:
“In the Review Board’s opinion, A Serbian Film could not be accommodated within the R 18+ classification as the level of depictions of sexual violence, themes of incest and depictions of child sexual abuse in the film has an impact which is very high and not justified by context.”
“The Review Board convened on Monday 19 September 2011 in response to an application from the Minister for Justice, the Hon Brendan O’Connor, to review the decision made by the Classification Board on 5 April 2011 to classify A Serbian Film R 18+ (Restricted) with the consumer advice, ‘high impact sexual violence, sex scenes and violence’.”
“The Review Board is an independent merits review body. Meeting in camera, it makes a fresh classification decision upon receipt of an application for review. This Review Board decision takes the place of the original decision made by the Classification Board.”
Different people, different decision.
I don’t have a problem with the CRB refusing this a classification. It has to be completely open about the reasons though.
I’m happy with, effectively, censorship of freely available material like this as long is it is all out in the open. When we can’t know what we’re not allowed to look at, then we’re in real trouble.
So a movie that very few people would choose to watch has a sh*tload of publicity and can be freely downloaded is banned by the CRB.
No wonder the internet seems a bit slow tonight.
Well done on being significantly ahead of the pack on reporting this Luke.
bricon hits the nail on the head. Very few people would have bothered with it, if not for the publicity engendered by the government of the Peoples Republic of South Australia. I had no interest at all, but the furore means that I will probably now seek it out just for my own curiousity.
This decision also means that hordes of otherwise uninterested bods will download it from torrent sites, and will now render those people who bought it legally technically liable to 2 years in jail. What a system!
After reading the review I could not help but get the uncensored vesrion by certain means. Did it deserve censorship? Um – well – I wasn’t permanently scarred by it but it certainly wasn’t pleasant viewing. The plot itself had some merit if you go deeper than the obvious porno/slasher themes. There was only one scene I found truly disgusting (involoving a newborn baby) – but then again, on reflection, I can see what it was meant to portray. The second of the “depraved” scenes didn’t worry me too much at all (it nevertheless deserves the term). For good or bad it is too easy to get around censorship restrictions these days so no doubt the controversy would have increased interest rather than limit it. Finaly a politician should have no ability to influence an independant review body – if that’s indeed what happened.
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