Saturday, January 27, 2018

‘The Death of Stalin’ Makes Ten – Nine Other Films the Putin Regime has Effectively Banned



Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 26 – There is no censorship in Russia, the constitution declares and Russian officials insist; but the regime has many ways to block films, not only by declaring them banned in Russia – that has happened in at least three cases -- but also by refusing to issue them the license to be shown – something that has happened to many more.

            The Rosbalt news agency provides a list of the three that have been banned outright and then a selection of six others that it has refused to give a license to and thus effectively banned. Collectively, these films show even more than “The Death of Stalin,” what the Kremlin is most concerned about preventing Russians from seeing (rosbalt.ru/like/2018/01/24/1676895.html):

·         “Child 44” – a 2015 US film about the tracking down of a serial murderer in Stalin’s time.

·         “Clip” – a 2012 Serbian film about a dissolute teenager in Serbia.

·         “Love” – a 2015 French-Belgian film that the Russian cultural ministry said featured “numerous scenes of a pornographic nature.”

·         “The Interview” – a 2014 US film about two journalists who get involved in trying to interview North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.

·         “Borat” – a 2006 US film about a Kazakh journalist dispatched to the United States to report on life there. After initially being banned, it was approved for distribution via DVD and Blue Ray.

·         “Five Days in August” – a 2009 Finnish film about the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008.

·         “Charlie Wilson’s War” – a 2006 US film about an American congressman who works to get Washington to supply anti-aircraft missiles to the anti-Soviet Afghan mujahidin.

·         “Ordered to Forget” – a 2014 Russian film about Stalin’s deportation of the Chechens and Ingush in 1944.

·         “Russia 88” – a 2009 Russian quasi-documentary film about skinheads in the Russian Federation. Formally, it was licensed, but Rosbalt says it has never been shown in a theater.

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