05

When I was at the cinema on Sunday, which happened to be a public holiday, and gave rise to one of the long weekends in Malaysia, the guy who handed our movie tickets (which I had booked online a day prior) seemed to be slightly cautious. I think it was because the film we picked had an 18 rating. Perhaps he was partly curious, but he politely asked if all of us were at least 18 years of age. I had a feeling that the question was indirectly for me, because of my size and height, although it must be said that it was my first time I had such an experience in the given context.

Thankfully, the staff who gave us our tickets accepted my father’s response as proof that I’m an adult. So I didn’t have to show him my identity card (IC).

Following the encounter, I felt it was timely that I go through the existing film ratings, put in place by the relevant Malaysian authorities.

U for Universal or Umum – Suitable for the general audience.

Tiger Woohoo (2010) (mixed audio but mainly in Chinese), Warkah (2019) (Malay), The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Shark Tale (2004), Sepet (2005) (mix of Malay, English, Chinese, Cantonese, Hokkien), The Journey (2011) (mainly in Chinese/Cantonese, with a little Malay and English).

P 13 for Parental Guidance 13 or Penjaga 13 – Those below 13 will not be allowed to enter unless he or she is accompanied by a mentally-sound adult.

Aladdin (2019), Yesterday (2019) ,The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019), Sangkar (2019) (mixed, mainly in Malay), Pulang (2018) (Malay), Ikut Aku Ke Neraka (2019) (Indonesian), Parasite (2019) (Korean), Colour Me True (2019) (Japanese), Dans La Brume (2018) (French) , Life of Pi (2012) (mix of English, Tamil, and French), The Artist (2011) (mainly silent, some French intertitles), The Age of Adaline (2015), Crazy Rich Asians (2018) (mix of Chinese, Cantonese, minimal Hokkien), The Theory of Everything (2015).

18 for movies that have (excessive) violence, sex, nudity and other sensitive elements.

Black Swan (2011), Angel Has Fallen (2019), Ready or Not (2019), La Douleur (2018) (French), The Reader (2009), IT (2019), Burlesque (2011), The Equalizer 2 (2018), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2018).

It would be safe to say that these movies have been classified accordingly after taking into account the cultural sensitivities in Malaysia. This also means there are several banned films for various reasons, which may lead audiences to go through other means to have access to those films, especially with the presence of subscription-based high-speed Internet and popular streaming sites, without having to leave the physical space you may be in.

In the past few months, there has been discussion on revising the film ratings and how the Film Censorship Board (Lembaga Penapisan Filem) will play their role in deciding what’s appropriate for the Malaysian audience. Separately, there have been calls to revamp and improve the local film industry, particularly to move in tandem with the 21^st century and beyond.

As the late American science communicator and astronomer Carl Sagan once said, “We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.”