“Wolf of Wall Street” banned or censored around world

Has Hollywood gone too far?

By Dwight Widaman |

Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Wolf”

Countries around the world are editing, or down right banning the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street. In the U.S. the movie’s director, Martin Scorsese, had to trim the movie himself to get an R rating as opposed to the porn-light NC-17. But reports say while some pornographic scenes may have been cut for the movie to play at your neighborhood theater, Scorsese kept in a gay orgy, public masturbation and other scenes so vulgar most movie reviews cannot even mention them.

The movie, reviewed by industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter as “a three-hour raunch-fest featuring sex, drugs and 569 variations of the F-word,” was even edited by the Indian Film Board for attacking Christianity when a prominent character says that “all nuns are lesbians.”

 

a three-hour raunch-fest featuring sex, drugs and 569 variations of the F-word…

Many of America’s films are edited or censored for distribution in other parts of the world, but “Wolf” has been a challenge. So much of the movie is seen as excessive that media reports say even hardened liberal movie-goers in New York and Los Angeles are walking out on the film. Try getting that film into China.

Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Wall Street huxster Jordan Belfort, hasn’t yet released in much of the world, and many are wondering what response it will get. Wolf seems to be underperforming in the U.S. with only $80 million at the box office as of last weekend.

While scolding countries who are editing scenes that may be par for the course in the U.S, the film’s distributor—Red Granite–has been open to allowing some cuts in order for Wolf to gain access.

In India, Lebanon and other countries, numerous scenes have been cut. Singapore’s film agency slapped Wolf of Wall Street with a restrictive R21 rating, meaning only viewers over 21 can see it and they’ve banned it completely from suburban neighborhood theaters.

The film has been banned altogether in Malaysia and Nepal. Sources within Malaysia’s government film office said that the distributor of the film realized upon screening it that it would face huge problems with the censorship board because of its profanity, nudity and sex. In the United Arab Emirates, almost a third of the film has been cut.

Sadly that leaves the other two-thirds to corrupt moviegoers both in the U.S. and abroad.