Editor | Peter Bowen
blog: Brokeback Broken by Italian TV
Posted December 11, 2008
The recent censorship of several steamy scenes form Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain when it was broadcast on RAI TV, the Italian state-sponsored television channel, has created more than a small political furor. After immediate protests, the RAI claimed the cuts were a mistake, and that they would immediately run the full film. But, as The Guardian points out, “The cuts--involving a kiss between actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and a love scene in a tent––came days after the Vatican attacked an EU proposal for the UN to formally condemn discrimination against gay people.” Whether a mistake or not, the snafu is becoming a political hot potato. Franco Grillini, president of Gaynet, remarked, "The need to change a film about homosexual love into a film about simple male friendship says a lot about the current cultural climate." Certain political figures are now calling for an investigation into the matter and to the programming policies of the RAI.





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