Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest venture with Hollywood messiah Martin Scorsese is one hell of a sexy affair. Blunt, over the top and totally debauched, it’s twanged a few nerves in various Asian countries leading to heavy editing and even outright bans.
Malaysia and Nepal have flat-out banned the movie from being shown, whilst Indian viewers won’t get to see scenes featuring a gay orgy, Jonah Hill’s character masturbating in public and the opening that involves cocaine, a naked woman… and a straw. Lebanon has cut out the gay orgy scene as well.
But it doesn’t stop there. The United Arab Emirates have sliced 45 minutes out of the three hour running time, and Singapore has sent out a very restrictive R21 showing to select cinemas across the country. But that didn’t stop it rocketing to the top of the country’s box office last weekend. This reminds me of The Passion of Saint Tibulus episode of Father Ted; people want to see the wild stuff, even if the country’s big cheeses would rather they didn’t.
Matt Gammond
