Fahrenheit 9/11 given restrictive rating

Lions Gate and IFC, the partnership set up to distribute the film, have said that they will contest the rating. Incidentally, Moore's previous documentary, Bowling for Columbine, received the same rating.

Moore told reporters that the rating would effectively discourage many 15- to 16-year-old Americans - who could be recruited to serve in Iraq in the next few years - from seeing what goes on in the country.

At the same time, a California-based organisation has been urging exhibitors to boycott the film on the grounds that it fails to support America's war on terrorism.