This Film Is Not Yet Rated

I find film and all its many facets to be incredibly interesting.  While I have read articles about films being saddled with harsh ratings, I hadn't really learned much about the actual ratings process until I watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated.  I originally watched it a few years ago, when it was released, but I decided to re-watch it tonight.  It's still as interesting as the first time.

The film opens on the director of Boys Don't Cry talking about what she went through when her film was rated.  She recounts how she felt when she heard the rating.  She goes on to discuss what scenes the board had issue with and what deeper meanings she saw in their decisions.  There is commentary from a number of other directors throughout the film.  These clips provide people for us to identify with, even though they are filmmakers way above our pay grade.  Each of us can understand having passion for a project and seeing their reactions to having unnamed people influence the future of the films they worked hard to create help us to realize that the ratings system isn't just a letter slapped on a film for the trailers.

As with any documentary, you must be careful to not take the facts presented in the documentary as gospel.  A documentary is created when someone feels passionately enough about a project to film his* research of it.  If that filmmaker cares enough to undertake that burden, he will have a view about it that subject.  I believe This Film Is Not Yet Rated is pushing an agenda, but the film makes a good case for the viewpoint presented.  Kirby Dick, the director, wants you to realize that the ratings process for films is unfair.  A group of anonymous parents decides how a film will be rated with no clear guidelines.  

After a few clips of different directors talking about the process, the film does a good job of defining the different ratings.  He generalizes what types of content may be found in each type of movie.  The film also features a detective story-line, as the identities of the rates are sought.  Sometimes, during the chase scenes, the documentary gets a little hokey, with amped up sound effects.

If the film falters anywhere, it is in the attempt to explain why films are rated the way they are rated.  They implicate multiple reasons for why certain films are "censored" over others.  There is no real concrete evidence to support some of the listed reasons, so I can't know how much stock to put in the presented reasons.

If you have interest in films, it's worth taking the time to watch This Film Is Not Yet Rated.  Right now, you can catch it on Netflix.  Beware, though, as there is a multitude of nudity and inappropriate language.  As the film really isn't rated, you have to make your own decision as to whether or not it is safe or worth watching.  Also, Jack Valenti has nice cheeks, but that is beside the point.  

*Obviously, the filmmaker could be a she, but I'm using the male pronoun.