45 movies that were banned in cinemas around the world, from 300 to Shrek 2
Jacob Stolworthy
·1-min read
Since the dawn of time – well, the start of cinema – many films have been banned in certain countries due to various reasons.
Thanks to strict laws or conflicting beliefs, censors from all around the world – China, Ireland, Lebanon, to name just a few – continue to work hard determining whether new releases are fit to be screened in cinemas.
While some titles, including graphic horror films The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Human Centipede 2, get banned for obvious reasons, there is a long history of unexpected features – such as Disney releases and inoffensive superhero films – that failed to make the cut.
Below is a roundup of the 45 films you never realised were banned – from The Lady of Heaven to Beauty and The Beast – and the reasons why.
Scroll through the gallery to see what made the list.
45 films you never realised were banned
45 films you never knew realised were banned:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): The ban on All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) was ordered in Germany by Adolf Hitler himself who disliked its anti-war message. This came after an initial run during which members of the Nazi Party disrupted screenings by releasing mice into the cinema and, at one stage, attacking Jewish audience members. Censors in Austria, Australia, Italy and France also banned the film in the early 1930s. (Universal Pictures)
American Sniper (2015): Many might find Clint Eastwood's American Sniper (2015) to be something of an insult, but Iran banned the war drama – based on the life of the US military's deadliest marksman – for being just that. Censors deemed it
Apocalypse Now (1979): The anti-war sentiment present in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now saw the film banned under President Park Chung-hee's regime in 1979. (United Artists)
Argo (2012): Ben Affleck's Best Picture-winning 2012 drama Argo was banned in Iran due to its negative portrayal of the country. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Battleship Potemkin (1925): Finnish censors believed that Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 Soviet silent film Battleship Potemkin would incite a Communist revolution, so gave the film an outright ban. (Goskino)
Beauty and the Beast (2017): Disney's live-action remake of its 1991 classic was banned in Kuwait due to homosexual references involving the character LeFou (Josh Gad). It evaded a ban in Russia after being slapped with a 16+ age certificate and in Malaysia after having the references cut altogether. (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Ben-Hur (1959): China banned William Wyler's religious epic Ben-Hur in 1959 under the regime of Mao Zedong for containing
Borat (2006): It turns out there are some people who don't find Sacha Baron Cohen that funny, notably officials in all Arab countries (except Lebanon) who banned his 2006 comedy Borat for being
Brief Encounter (1945): Officials in the Catholic country of Ireland found David Lean's romantic drama Brief Encounter to be too accepting of adultery to be shown in cinemas. (Eagle-Lion Distributors)
Brokeback Mountain (2005): The homosexual relationship at the centre of Ang Lee's 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain saw the film banned in all Arab countries bar Lebanon, where it was released in a censored format. (Focus Features)
Israel’s strike on Iran on Friday morning will not come as a surprise to Western observers – but it will cause great concern in Washington and London as the region tips closer towards an all-out war.
A 39-year-old Singaporean woman was found dead with multiple stab wounds after going missing in Spain, and a Singaporean man has been arrested. Read on.
Many Malaysians have questioned the leniency shown to former PM Najib Razak after having his sentenced reduced. Here is A.Kathirasen's take on the matter.
While Western eyes are fixed on Tehran and Tel Aviv, Ukraine’s frontlines are showing clear signs of crumbling. There is a very real possibility they could crumble this summer if we do not throw the kitchen sink at Russia. Even if we do, it may already be too late for the weapons and munitions long promised by the West to save the day.
"Are you serious? Those are the words I used?" Clarkson chides herself The post Kelly Clarkson Has to Walk It Off After Unintentionally Making Dirty ‘Meat’ Joke to Henry Golding | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Chen Zelin, a married Singaporean man, duped two social escorts into sleeping with him, and threatened to release intimate photos of his girlfriend. Read more.
The United Arab Emirates witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 75 years this week, triggering massive flooding that swept away cars, caused flights to be canceled and left multiple people dead.
Indonesian rescuers raced to evacuate thousands of people Thursday after a volcano erupted five times, forcing authorities to close a nearby airport and issue a warning that the crater collapsing into the sea could cause a tsunami.The warship evacuated 195 people from Tagulandang to Bitung, a coastal city in North Sulawesi, on Thursday evening, a navy spokesperson told AFP.
- Tsunami warning -
Authorities also warned of a possible tsunami as a result of the eruptions.
Jürgen Klopp said Liverpool squandered their Europa League chances at Anfield and insisted Mohamed Salah’s wastefulness was not the cause of their exit
