Council overrules film classification
Published on : 28/04/2007
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Bristol city council has decided to certify the film This Is England suitable for under-18s after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) assigned it an 18 certificate.
The council has instead replaced this with a 15 certificate and called the BBFC original decision "idiotic".
Ron Stone, a Bristol city councillor, told the BBC: "It was a unanimous decision of the committee that there was nothing we saw in the film which was any worse than you would see probably on Channel 4 or one of the main TV channels at peak-time viewing.
"We felt it was idiotic that what is basically a very good film and very well made, on a difficult but social issue, should be prevented from being seen by the audience it was targeted at.
"I think the censors actually are wrong in giving it an 18 certificate."
The BBFC assigned the film an 18 certificate because it contained a scene of racist violence which culminates as the plot of the film develops.
A young boy, played by Thomas Turgoose, is a member of a gang of skinheads following the influences of the movement before the group takes a sinister turn when it meets a National Front member.
Local authorities rarely set their own film classifications but the BBFC said they were perfectly within their rights to do so.
Bristol city council amends This Is England film rating from 18 to 15
