eugonline: Cuomo's Letter on "Fahrenheit" Rating Hearing

eugonline: Cuomo's Letter on "Fahrenheit" Rating Hearing: "Today, a public relations rep for 'Fahrenheit 9/11 released a copy of a letter sent by Mario Cuomo to Tom Ortenberg (Lions Gate Films) and Jonathan Sehring (IFC Films). Apparently the MPAA will not allow Cuomo to argue on behalf of the film; Ortenberg himself will be arguing before the MPAA tomorrow to change the film's rating from 'R' to 'PG-13'.

Ms. Graves was forthcoming and cooperative. She described for us the precise meaning of each of the ratings in question and why the raters decided on an "R." She informed us that the rating was based on: the use of the term "mother____" by an American soldier, twice in repeating the words of a favorite song of the American soldiers in Iraq, and then twice again in his conversation immediately following the description of the song. Later in the film there are several graphic images of victims of war and abusive behavior by some of our troops.

Altogether the hard language and graphic pictures consume about 3 minutes in a film lasting 120 minutes.

The raters agree that there was nothing else in the film that required any cautionary notice to parents: no nudity, sexual conduct, inappropriate theme, or illicit drug use. I think it's fair to say that given the common uninstructed interpretation by the public of the "R" rating, many of the viewers of the film would be surprised to see so few of the undesirable characteristics they expected to find in an "R" rated film.

Why then should the film not be rated a "PG 13" as was "The Lord of the Rings," a film that is saturated with slaughter, butchery and corpses-human and extraterrestrial?

Does the extended depiction of fictional and fantastic mayhem threaten children less than one or two fleeting scenes of real life violence, death and crassness? Are the raters competent to make that judgment as psychiatrists or child psychologists? Wouldn't it be enough, in view of the brief exposure to the uncomfortably graphic scenes in our film, to warn parents that they should consider the vulnerability of children under thirteen with a "PG 13," instead of the more restricted "R"?

Or does the brief reiteration of the common but still crude "mother" expletive make the crucial difference? Would the "R" be dropped if there were just one utterance instead of four? Or just two?"


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