Film board and Wolf of Wall street

 Jordan Belfort, whom movie is based        Photo:Courtesy

Up until Tuesday last week, not everyone knew there was a body called Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB), let alone that it has a Facebook page. Then one update changed all that.

‘There is a LIMIT to everything and we believe the Kenyan public deserves better. WOLF OF WALLSTREET has been RESTRICTED. The film is NOT for sale, exhibition or distribution in KENYA. Violators shall be PROSECUTED.’

According to online reviews, the movie is based on the real life of Jordan Belfort, the 51-year-old stockbroker, now turned motivational speaker, who served a 22-month term in prison for fraud. It focuses on the excesses he indulged in during a moment he confesses to have been ‘greedy’.

Reviewers roundly agree that the depictions in the movie are too blatant, perhaps excessively so, but banning it?

What followed was a torrent of, mainly negative, comments from readers. Suddenly the page was active. You see, many people understandably frown on the idea of any form of censorship, more so young Kenyans who are unfamiliar with Kenya’s repressive history and are mostly the ones on social media.

Banning of movies is not a new thing, the world over and usually reasons are given, from security to high impact violence and cruelty as was the case in Norway of a movie which was so graphic, as it was being aired at the Stockholm Film Festival, it made two people vomit and faint.

The film remains strictly prohibited in Norway, understandably so.

The only reason given by KFCB was that there was a limit and that the Kenyan public deserves better’, not violence, religious intolerance, security reasons or promotion of hate.

In a free democratic country, that kind of off-handish reason might run into some problem. Only in countries like North Korea do they ban movies like they did the movie 2012, released in 2009, because the year (2012) coincided with Kim Il Sung’s (the country’s founding father) 100th birthday and they would therefore not entertain anything that depicts the year in a bad light.

So this body that one Pulser referred to as Mututho wa Movies, perhaps should give a better reason, something that came out clearly in the ensuing debate where many pointed out that there are more gross movies and series, with more nudity and even worse depictions, to which KFCB readily admitted.

‘SPARTACUS and GAME OF THRONES etc: Most of the films being accessed by the public have NOT been rated. The cinema theatres ensure their films have been classified and although they are few in number, they adhere to the law.’

Then there were two other issues that stood out. First, the movie was released in December 2013 and banning it now would be akin to acting retrospectively.

Second, in today’s world of free movie downloads from the Internet, how enforceable was this ban?

Perhaps, unwittingly, the only thing they managed to do is popularise the movie.