Five Films Banned in Other Countries

Schindler’s List (1993) in Indonesia

Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning cinematic masterpiece is a very hard watch due to its subject matter and visceral depictions of brutality during the Holocaust. However, it is probably one of the most important films of all time.

This isn’t seen to be the case in Indonesia where censors banned it in 1994. The reason given was that the film was sympathetic to the Jewish cause and therefore has no place in such a heavily Muslim-populated country.

Head of the Committee for World Muslim Solidarity said, “From the beginning we opposed the film being shown to the public in Indonesia because it had no big advantage to the country.”

However, the National Censorship Board of Indonesia differ from this point of view and insist it is due to the levels of nudity and violence in the movie.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) in Kazakhstan

This one is probably not too surprising. Borat is seen as so offensive that it is banned in the entire Arab world apart from Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. The ban isn’t likely to be lifted anytime soon, especially in Kazakhstan.

The primary reasons cited are due to the opening and closing scenes that portray the local Kazakh people as poor, simple-minded, and even in some cases, sex offenders. Kazakhstan’s leaders did not care for their great nation being seen as racist, sexist, and primitive.

Countries all over the world have been portrayed with negative and unflattering stereotypes but this was just deemed too far from Sasha Baron Cohen. The government of Kazakhstan, however, have since thanked Borat for the boost to their economy from tourism as a result of the movie’s success. In 2010, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister said that ten times as many people were applying for visas to go there. I guess there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Zoolander (2001) in Malaysia

Another example of Western comedy upsetting Asian audiences was the Malaysian government who didn’t see the funny side of the movie’s plot. This centred on Mugatu (Will Ferrell) hypnotizing Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) to assassinate the Malaysian Prime Minister.

They were also very unimpressed with the depiction of the sweat shops visited by Derek. These two points led to the Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry Film Censorship Board to say that the content of the film was, “Definitely Unsuitable.”

Other films that were deemed too offensive for cinema release in the country include Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Disaster Artist, and Babe.

2012 (2009) in North Korea

Roland Emmerich’s film was not banned for being an average disaster movie, but rather for showing the apocalypse happening in the year 2012.

Although the Mayans had this in their calendar as the end of humanity for a very long time, the North Koreans had a different way of thinking. Because it was the hundredth-year anniversary of the birth of ‘The Great Leader’ Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il declared it was the year that North Korea was to “Open the grand gates to becoming a rising superpower”.

Therefore, watching a film about the world’s destruction would be highly inappropriate and anyone caught watching the film was to be prosecuted. You would surely regret your actions if the reason for your incarceration was 2012.

The Simpsons Movie (2007) in Burma

The Simpsons Movie and its TV show counterpart are both banned in Burma because the censors in the country don’t allow the colours yellow and red combined on screen.

This is because of a rebel group that was called the National League of Democracy. Their flag’s colours were yellow and red, and so to avoid showing bias and causing general mayhem and rioting, it is easier just not to show The Simpsons in the country.

Rather than offensive content being the reason to prohibit a film’s release, this one was much more political.

Honourable Mentions

Barbie (2023) in Kuwait, Algeria, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Lebanon

We are seeing more and more films banned in some countries because of their depiction of gender and sexuality. This was apparent surrounding the release of Barbie as it seemed not a day went by without a news article about another country disagreeing with the content of the movie and pulling it from theatres.

Barbie was not only banned for clashing with religious texts though. Vietnam banned for the film for its use of a map of the South China Sea that uses a nine-dash line. This has caused offence due to ongoing territory disputes between many South East Asian countries.

Some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, initially prohibited the release of the movie on LGBTQ+ grounds but did go on to show a censored version.

Brief Encounter (1945) in Ireland

David Lean’s Brief Encounter is, by today’s standards, massively innocuous in its treatment of an emotional love affair between two married people who meet at a train station. There’s no sex scenes or heavy petting. Everything is implied within the dialogue of the great Noel Coward’s script.

However, this was still too much in Ireland where the film was banned because the movie is too “permissive of adultery”. Considering the heavily sexualized film and TV shown today, it seems somewhat unbelievable. On the other hand, Ireland is a deeply Catholic country and cannot be shown to be encouraging adultery in its culture.

Brief Encounter’s ban was eventually lifted, and the film was given a PG rating.

Rififi (1955) in Finland

Rififi is a 1955 French crime film directed by Jules Dassin. It is famous for its long and intricate heist scene that contains very little music and dialogue.

However, the movie was banned in Finland for this very reason. The idea that people could imitate the safe cracking techniques was a worry and deemed too realistic. There were worries the Finnish people would go on a crime spree after watching the film.

The movie was released several years later but it was heavily cut and had a tax imposed upon it.