MANY THINK that the dark days of Irish censorship of art are long gone. While there s no doubt that the ludicrously authoritarian attitude of previous decades has largely disappeared, controversy has erupted again with the release of the Oscar-winning The Cider House Rules.
The Lasse Hallstrom-directed adaptation of John Irving s novel has been hailed as a classy and subtle piece of work. One of it s major themes is abortion. In Britain, the movie has been cleared for viewing by anyone of 12 years or over; the Irish film censor, Sheamus Smith, however, has awarded an 18 cert.
The film s distributors, Buena Vista, have no plans to appeal Smith s decision, but a spokesman commented that the company had hoped for a 15 certificate. The significant disparity between the British and Irish classifications has caused eyebrows to be raised elsewhere.
The Film Censor s Office maintains a policy of not giving reasons for any movie s classification. In response to Hot Press questions, Sheamus Smith faxed the following statement:
The reason for my decision to classify The Cider House Rules as Over 18 is that I considered this to be the appropriate classification for the film. Both the content and the treatment of the story would, as usual, be the reason for reaching any decision regarding classification. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the classification of a film in any other territory.
The British Board Of Film Classification are equally sparse in their comments:
The film simply falls within our guidelines for a 12 , says a spokeswoman. The reasons that it wasn t cleared for below 12s were scenes of high drama and a brief sex scene. The film s classification hasn t been an issue for either critics or audiences in this country.
Irish critic Derek O Connor has his own views on the matter. While keen to point out that Sheamus Smith s rulings are generally well considered and represent a great improvement on the regime that went before , he also states:
I would be pretty sure that it s the subject matter rather than the treatment of it which is the basis for the censor s decision. While it isn t at all graphic, it is a pretty head-on look at the issues surrounding abortion, and it certainly isn t anti-abortion.
The issue is probably, the north aside, still the most contentious in Ireland. It s possible that Smith factored in the chances of the pro-life lobby using the film to put the whole thing back in the news again, he says. If he had given it a 12 , you would probably hear people claiming that 12-year-olds were going to rush out and have abortions after seeing it.