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Rated for some "mature" audiences: (NC-17) This documentary film deals with the very secret and very influential society known as the ratings board. They are (or were, before this film) more shrouded in secrecy than the CIA. The ratings board are the "everyday, normal Americans" who decide which rating a film should get which ends up either benefiting the film or hurting the film. The more independent filmmakers usually end up getting short changed but not for the reasons you may think.

Director Kirby Dick, who made the truly compelling documentary Twist Of Faith, goes all investigative journalist, with the help of a couple of real private eyes, to expose (literally) the secret ratings board and how their system is really a form of censorship; an updated version of the Hayes Code. Many movies today that get the rating NC-17, as this film is rated, end up being seen by a much smaller market which is too bad because many of those films are edgy and provocative and deserve to be seen by a much wider audience. The film details which elements earn a film its rating and how recutting a film can earn a film a more "family friendly" rating.

Several filmmakers, including Kimberly Peirce (director of Boys Don't Cry) and John "provocative" Waters are interviewed and discuss how their films ended up getting NC-17 ratings and why they got those ratings. According to the system of the ratings board, violence is okay but sex is bad. The worse the sex act, the "worse" the rating; the worse the violent act, rating could remain unchanged or unaffected. The filmmakers also discuss the appeals process, as does Kirby who appealed the board's decision to give his own film an NC-17 rating. The only person who introduces himself during the appeal is the attorney, the appeals board does NOT and their are two clergy members on the appeals board (who don't seem to get a vote) just to make sure the process is a "moral" one. Also, the filmmaker cannot cite former movies as examples in the appeals process. For example, a movie in 1978 (Coming Home) showing a woman enjoying an orgasm earns an R rating. A movie in 1999 (Boy's Don't Cry) showing a woman enjoying an orgasm earns an NC-17 rating. The fact that the main character gets a bullet through their head doesn't seem to matter.

The film is quite controversial because it gives the names of all 9 members on the ratings board (at least those that were on the board as of 2005; the board may have changed since this film) and the stats of 8 of those members. The 8 whose stats they give are all over the age of 40; none of them younger than 44 and only two or three of them have children 16 or younger. As one lesbian filmmaker comments, "Are there any parents on the board who are like me?" That answer is a disappointing and resounding, no. Yet, these people are the voice of what the country deems "acceptable" and "family friendly." What happened to parents policing their own kids?

As a result of this film each film that I review, starting with this one, I will give the rating of so that anyone can go back and compare films and ratings. And lest one think that only a few filmmakers have either gotten NC-17 ratings or been threatened with that rating if they didn't recut their film, there have been more than a few who have dealt with it. Some of the biggest filmmakers, Scorsese, Spielberg, Kubrick (and many, many more) have had that "headache."

This film was much better and more insightful than I thought it would be. Critics and studio heads are also interviewed giving their take and insight on the ratings board.

Bags of popcorn (out of 5): 4.50

paul