A secret society that rivals those of The Skulls, The Freemasons, and the Boy Scouts; The Motion Picture Association of America (further referred to as MPAA to save myself from finger cramps) is finally exposed to the public. Well, kind of.
Ever wonder how films even get rated? You’d think it’d be by several groups of PTA members and movie critics, right? This Film Is Not Yet Rated sheds a little light on the mysterious ‘raters’ who control how many pelvic thrusts and pubic hairs are viewed by moviegoers. Director Kirby Dick personally interviews numerous movie directors, MPAA employees, and anyone else that is ‘in the know’ about the hoops filmmakers have to jump through to get the rating they need to reach the audience they want. We get to learn all about the additional editing and re-cuts directors have to suffer through, the differences between foreign and domestic ratings, and how a NC-17 rating can kill a movie.
This movie either exposes the MPAA as the fascists that they are, or it’s nothing more than a modern day witch hunt. Kirby Dick completely invades the privacy of the ‘secret’ members of the ratings committee in order to finally show Hollywood who there so-called enemies are. On the other hand, he could be attempting to finally break down the last bit of American censorship that only communist countries have to endure. I may be over exaggerating a bit, but that seems to be the message this movie is trying to spread.
If you are normally bored with documentaries, this may not be for you. However, if you want to learn why almost every movie releases an un-rated version on DVD, go rent This Film Is Not Yet Rated.
