bruno banned in the ukraine...

[Mike70]

first off, i find absolutely nothing funny about sascha baron cohen or any of his characters. his style of humor doesn't do a damn thing for me but i still hate to hear about govts. sticking their noses into something they have no business being involved in. It was not another elaborate publicity stunt after all. The government of Ukraine has indeed banned Sacha Baron-Cohen's Bruno. Rumors that the government was preparing to do so had spread over the Internet earlier in the week, leading some to conclude that it was all part of a PR effort to boost interest in the film, which was to have opened in Ukraine next week. But on Wednesday, a commission of the Ministry of Culture said that it had concluded that the movie presented an "artistically unjustified exhibition of sexual organs and sexual relations, homosexual acts in a blatantly graphic form, obscene language, sadism, anti-social behavior which could damage the moral upbringing of our citizens." In 2006, Baron Cohen's Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was banned in Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, a message on the ticket-selling phone line of a theater located in the Irish town of Navan in County Meath warns: "Brüno is particularly vile. It leads to a hell of a lot of complaints. It will offend every prejudice [sic] in the book, believe me, so don't come on after and tell us how horrible it was." The message ends, "One or two have enjoyed it, though." the phrase that most bothers me is the "artistically unjustified" bit. no govt. has the right to make such determinations on art. that is up to the eye of the beholder.

[capncnut]

The c**t should be banned from the entire planet.

[EvilNed]

Yepp, it's stupid. Infact, it's beyond stupid. And I'm talking about the ban, by the way, not the film.

[slickwilly13]

I read an article this week that said the name Bruno was banned in textbooks over in Germany.

[capncnut]

I read an article this week that said the name Bruno was banned in textbooks over in Germany. <silly Bruno laugh> "I'm banned in Germany? That's a country, innit?" <silly Bruno laugh>

[bassman]

Haven't seen Bruno, but Da Ali G show and Borat are hilarious to me... As for the ban....this probably wont be the last.

[MinionZombie]

I liked the Ali G stuff, I watched Borat on DVD and find it alright ... but mostly cringe-worthy in terms of the sheer discomfort watching it ... and Bruno I'll also see on DVD methinks. Although the changing of the ending because some focus groupers thought it "went too far", taking out the bit with one of the Jacksons, and putting two edits (15 and 18 ratings) into UK cinemas just rocks my eyebrow a bit too furiously. Mark Kermode isn't much impressed either (but then I didn't expect he would be of this flick ).

[Yojimbo]

first off, i find absolutely nothing funny about sascha baron cohen or any of his characters. his style of humor doesn't do a damn thing for me but i still hate to hear about govts. sticking their noses into something they have no business being involved in. the phrase that most bothers me is the "artistically unjustified" bit. no govt. has the right to make such determinations on art. that is up to the eye of the beholder. I agree with Mike. It reminds me of that "piss jesus" art controversy from over a decade ago. Though Ali G is pretty funny, I didn't particularly care for Borat and don't plan on spending theater rates to see this one, but I too feel that any government that is going to supress a film like this is overstepping it's authority. Hell, they might as well be Taliban if they are going to go that route!

[SymphonicX]

sacha BC is a genius, a social anarchist who has a great skill of letting people show their true bigoted colours. Borat was a commentary on racism, Bruno is a commentary on homophobia...he brings out the worst in people and they don't even know they're doing it. Seems the Ukraine has totally missed the point - his characters are meant to be an extreme extension of people's perceptions of those that are different, if they or anyone else can't see that, then they've missed the point entirely.