I can’t speak to how frequently it occurs industry wide, but when I was trying to decide on which release of Giuseppe Tornatore’s
Malena I would purchase, it became clear that both the domestic and region B releases had been heavily cut. In the United States, Harvey Weinstein, as head of Miramax, eliminated 17 minutes from the film in order to attain an R rating. Doing so fundamentally alters the artistic vision of the film, as the scenes with nudity that are eliminated detract from the growing relationship between the two protagonists. The cuts also all but ruins the flow of Ennio Morricone’s fabulous score, and likely cost him an Academy Award win. I ended up importing an uncut release from South Korea.
The practice of cutting films was a frequent occurrence at Miramax.
This makes for a pretty good read, if you’re interested.
Being region free allows me the ability to see a film as the director intended. Monica Bellucci’s nudity in the film is not gratuitous, but our society is incredibly uptight where sexuality and nudity are concerned.
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Originally Posted by ravenus
I'm totally with all the other arguments in favor of a region-free player (which is why I have one, since I live in region C and I'd have almost nothing worthwhile to watch if I stuck with that).
That said, is there any example of a film where the region A version was censored / cut while a region B/C version was uncut? It's usually the BBFC in the UK which mandates cuts, especially for violence and animal cruelty. In the US, people can just release a disc unrated.
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