71 Slap the Monster on Page One

[Finch]

Days before a general election a young girl is raped and murdered. Bizanti (Gian Maria Volonté, The Working Class Goes to Heaven), the editor of a right-wing newspaper uses the story to help the conservative candidate his paper supports. The tumultuous time of Italy’s ‘Years of Lead’ are captured in Marco Bellocchio’s powerful political drama which directly addressed topics of its day and even prefigured the creation of the right-wing paper Il giornale, which came into being two years after this film. In an age of media manipulation Slap the Monster on Page One has never been more relevant and stands proudly alongside such Italian activist classics as We Still Kill the Old Way and The Mattei Affair.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

4K restoration of the film from the original negative by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Surf Film and Kavac Film, under the supervision of director Marco Bellocchio

Uncompressed mono PCM audio

Archival interview with Marco Bellocchio (21 mins)

Newly filmed interview with critic and author Mario Sesti (2024, 25 mins)

Appreciation by filmmaker Alex Cox (2024, 10 mins)

Newly improved English subtitle translation

Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters

Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Wesley Sharer
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[Orlac]

UK release has been censored by the BBFC.

[MichaelB]

It would have been helpful if you'd said why, but I did the necessary digging myself and it's to do with an indecent image of a child - so the BBFC's hands would have been tied by the criminal law.

[therewillbeblus]

UK release has been censored by the BBFC.

What's been censored?

[sabbath]

BBFC page (see "Home Entertainment" section)

- Classified Date: 06/09/2024
- Use: Physical media + VOD/Streaming
- Distributor: Radiance Films
- Cuts: This film required a compulsory cut to a potentially indecent image of a child. Cuts were made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines, policy, and the Protection of Children Act 1978.

[Peacock]

So the US and UK editions will be different?

[sabbath]

I immediately asked about that:

1) Would this affect your US release as well?
2) If not, do you plan to author different discs for each territory? That is, if I want the uncut version, do I have to order a US release? Or will I be able to watch the uncut version by playing a UK disc on a region A player?

They answered:

Unfortunately this content will remain cut in our domestic, and international release of the film. Apologies.

[TMDaines]

FFS. Really surprised and disappointed that they will be cutting the film across the board, as opposed to releasing the film uncensored in the US at least. The Raro DVD I previously owned was also cut vs the French DVD, but I cannot remember why.

[Orlac]

Could it be the content of the film breaks US laws as well?

[sabbath]

Correction from Radiance:

"Me again, apologies but I have just been informed that the US version of the movie does in fact remain uncut and without the BBFC mandated alterations."

[TMDaines]

Hopefully they Arrow it and say no more.

[therewillbeblus]

I don't mind a cut like that as long as it's not excluding substantial information from the film

[Orlac]

Hopefully they Arrow it and say no more.

Arrow did not "Arrow" Sister Street Fighter 2.

[MichaelB]

Hopefully they Arrow it and say no more.

Even if they were thinking about that - which is unlikely, because of the specific legal issues - they could well get cold feet if anyone blurted it out in a forum like this, especially in advance of the release. The whole point of this kind of arrangement is that it's not publicised in advance of the release in any way, shape or form.

But, as Orlac says, it's not going to fly when we're dealing with indecent images of children, whereby even possession is a criminal offence; it's very unlikely that including such an image on the disc but hiding it behind a Region A lock would make any legal difference, as the prosecution would argue that the image is still on the disc and that people in the UK can still access it.

[TMDaines]

I believe this is a completely different case from those other supposedly similar one. I've seen the film a few times and couldn't even recollect what it might have been. Having scanned through the film again, unless the most recent restoration has added something new, I think the shot in question is of

Spoiler

a photo of the murdered schoolgirl's head cut out and superimposed on a centrefold model's picture in the killer's home, in the most amateurish fashion you could imagine.

It is the only shot of nudity in the entire film. If so, it seems to be a completely ridiculous call from the BBFC and I'm sure Radiance were completely baffled that it was even flagged. The shot has been present in every other release of the film in various countries and has never even been remarked on until now. It feels like a complete overreaction, if so, to the rise in awareness of deepfake porn. There is no nudity of minors in the film, eroticised or otherwise,

Spoiler

unless you have reason to believe the background image of the composition is too of a minor.

The film is on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSLW2ADm2eo. The shot in question is at 1:12:48.

I think Radiance can sleep easy at night that they aren't holding illegal material and won't be raided anytime soon.

[Peacock]

TMDaines, your description reminds me of a similar scene in Brass Eye’s Paedo Special! And doesn’t that feature a member of the BBFC making judgements about whether the combining of a child’s head and model’s (and dog’s!) bodies are obscene or not as well?!

[TMDaines]

I'm genuinely staggered that this shot I have suggested is the one. It can't be, surely? Did the censor at the BBFC watch this in blurry 240p and not spot it is clearly

Spoiler

a headshot cut out on a softcore porn mag image?

I've fixed the link now so people can make their own judgment about whether we have sane people passing judgement at the BBFC.

[swo17]

I'm sure they knew it was a sloppy composite, and that they still considered it to violate the law, as it sexualizes a child

[TMDaines]

TMDaines, your description reminds me of a similar scene in Brass Eye’s Paedo Special! And doesn’t that feature a member of the BBFC making judgements about whether the combining of a child’s head and model’s (and dog’s!) bodies are obscene or not as well?!

Incredibly in that very scene Michael Hames, Former Head of Obscene Publications Branch, states that a composite image of nude woman's body and a child's head would not be considered an indecent photo of a child because the body is not one of a child! 16:54 onwards: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5bg85g

[therewillbeblus]

Does the removal of this scene really impact significant effects of, or information in the film?

[swo17]

They aren't removing the scene, just zooming in so the offending image is out of frame

[therewillbeblus]

Great!

[TMDaines]

Does the removal of this scene really impact significant effects of, or information in the film?

ish...

Spoiler

It's part of a collective set of images that tips a detective off about the perverted and obsessive nature of the killer.

The shot isn't at all gratuitous and is there for a reason.I really want to emphaise that this isn't a typical Italian genre film that was to become common later on the in the decade, which often had a lot of gratuitous nudity and violence. The film is very chaste in comparison, and is what you would somewhat expect from a Bellocchio and Gian Maria Volonté collaboration. The BBFC doesn't even list nudity on the page about the film, because there will be zero once this cut is made. In total:

Spoiler

A rape scene toward the end is pretty short and undetailed. The victim at no point is shown maimed or nude, either when she is found at the beginning of the film or later when it is revealed what transpired towards the end.

The frustration and question for me is why are we accepting the very questionable censorship of a film in what is likely to be its definitive release? I admittedly have very little patience for the BBFC at the best of times, but this genuinely seems batshit.

[mhofmann]

The shot in question is at 1:12:48.

That's... an utterly ridiculous reaction by the BBFC? If this is indeed the scene in question.

[TMDaines]

The shot in question is at 1:12:48.

That's... an utterly ridiculous reaction by the BBFC? If this is indeed the scene in question.

They confirmed it is to me on Twitter. Baffling.