BBFC - Animal abuse inconsistencies

[kobol]

I'll watch just about anything the screen can throw at me as regards to the old sex, violence and bad language kind of thing - but one thing I can't stand to watch is real abuse towards animals. I don't mean the simulated kind (I can laugh with the next guy as the cat gets smashed with the baseball bat in Re-animator or the dog gets run over in A Fish Called Wanda), but the stuff that's in the cannibal movies just makes me sick and angry.

The BBFC doesn't allow this kind of stuff and therefore cuts it out. I don't agree with censorship, I think people should make their own choice about what they watch, but that's what they do.

Then you have the daft stuff they cut out, like a mouse being shown under 'water' in The Abyss or a horse 'falling wrong' in Glory.

What I'd like to know is, after my ramblings(!), how come films like Apocalypse Now (where a real animal is actually killed on screen) and Southern Comfort (where a real pig is killed) get away with it.

I'm not saying they should cut them, it just seems really inconsistent to me! :confused:

[Foxy Slamdangle]

The Apocalypse Now scene was footage taken from a documentary (I think) and therefore is classed as 'OK' to use.

The animal wasn't hacked to death for the purpose of the film.

[jroadley]

Originally posted by Foxy Slamdangle
The Apocalypse Now scene was footage taken from a documentary (I think) and therefore is classed as 'OK' to use.


This scene still gets me everytime I watch it - I watched the Redux version last weekend and although cruel (Although part of their culture) it is done very well.

(Please don't give me stick for this post ;) )

[Michael Brooke]

Foxy's half right - although Coppola and his crew shot the sacrifice at the end of <I>Apocalypse Now</I>, it qualified as "documentary footage" for legal purposes, in that the BBFC were satisfied that the sacrifice in question would have happened anyway regardless of the presence of the cameras.

But the BBFC's hands are tied otherwise - the 1937 Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act not only makes it illegal to present genuine animal cruelty solely for the purposes of entertainment, it also doesn't have any kind of "artistic merit" get-out clause, as does other British obscenity legislation.

Since the BBFC is required, amongst other things, to make sure that the films they pass don't infringe the law, they <U>have</U> to cut these scenes - if they don't, the distributor/cinema/video shop runs the risk of prosecution. And it makes no difference if the film is <I>Cannibal Holocaust</I> or something like Tarkovsky's <I>Andrei Rublev</I> (and a more serious and committed example of high art it would be hard to imagine) - both got cut.

That said, I can attest from personal experience that the BBFC is very co-operative when it comes to stuff like this - believe it or not, they actually dislike cutting films of high artistic merit, and were extremely helpful with an Australian film called <I>Celia</I> that I was involved with distributing. There was a scene in it where a rabbit appeared to be tortured on camera, and the BBFC needed reassurance that the rabbit wasn't actually harmed in any way. Fortunately, the Australian producers anticipated this, and had backup video and legal documentation which the BBFC was happy to accept - and what was particularly striking about the letter they wrote us was their sheer relief that they didn't have to cut the scene! (Not least because it would have seriously damaged the narrative - those who've seen the film know that it's a crucial psychological moment).

More recently, <I>Amores Perros</I> was passed uncut after the BBFC went through all the contentious footage with the producers, who were similarly able to explain exactly how the effects were achieved and provide independent verification.

But if something's been cut, you can guarantee it was either because genuine animal cruelty occurred or because the producers couldn't prove that it didn't.

[Madm@tt]

(Please don't give me stick for this post)

Here! HAVE A STICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[craigmeak]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that in one of the original tarzan films (with weissmuller) there was a scene in which he fought with a lion and killed it, to achieve this the film-makers drugged the lion and weissmuller stabbed it to death.
Can anyone verify this, I've done some web searches but can't find anything.
Thanks
Craig

[Digital]

"In one scene a lion is supposed to crawl through the window of Tarzan's cabin to devour Jane. Tarzan grabs him and pulls him out. In fact the old and drugged lion turned on Elmo Lincoln who stabbed and killed him. "I stepped on him to beat my chest. As my foot pressed down on him, the remaining air in his lungs escaped with a loud whoosh. I was already shaken and you should have seen me jump!" The lion wound up as a lobby display when the picture opened on Broadway."

I've slapped it into a spoiler tag, not because I don't want to ruin the film, but incase anyone doesn't particularly want to read it.

Found here (http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0009682) @ Imdb.com

[craigmeak]

So, has Tarzan of the Apes been banned, or the offending scene removed. I feel certain that I saw the film on tv when I was young (mid 70's) but may be imagining it.

[Shingster]

Encounters Of A Spooky Kind appears to have the sacrifice of a real live chicken in one scene. You could argue that it's part of a Chinese ritual, but if you ask me that's pushing it. You certainly can't argue that the chicken would have been killed anyway in this ritual, so if it isn't fake HKL have been lucky!

[Foxy Slamdangle]

One of the few good threads on the FilmFour forums concerned animal cruelty.

Although animal cruelty in films was 100% lambasted by the post contributors (also noting that everything should be done in the future to protect against animal exploitation), it was argued that films already shot containing scenes of cruelty (e.g. <I>Even Dwarfs Started Small</I>'s monkey crucifixion) should be shown.

Personally, although I understand the sentiment, I can't bear to watch any scene of cruelty. In fact I find even the edited version of EDSS pretty trying at the best of times.