Apostle Cedric Moss, pastor of Kingdom Life Outreach Ministries, who was a guest on the Radio Love 97 programme “Issues of the Day” Tuesday, said members of the board ought to be more consistent in rating movies.
He believes that the fact that the board gave the movie “The Passion of The Christ” a “C” rating shows that it is inconsistent. A “C” rating means that only persons who are 18 and above are allowed to see a movie.
When movies are given an “A” rating, anyone can see it; For “B” rated movies, persons who are under 12 years old must be accompanied by a responsible adult; The “T” rating means people who are 15 years and above do not need to have a parent.
Apostle Moss said the board gave the movie a “C” rating when other movies such as “The Last Samurai”, “Marci X”, and “The Matrix Reloaded” were given a “T” rating. He believes that these movies were more violent than “The Passion of Chris”, but yet got a softer rating.
“The Passion of the Christ”, which was produced by Mel Gibson gives a vivid depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life. It has been shown in local and international theatres since last week, generating passionate reaction from viewers.
The Motion Pictures Association of America gave the movie an “R” rating, reportedly because of the violence depicted in the re-enactment of the crucifixion.
“I am not advocating a lower rating,” Apostle Moss said. “I hold the view that in our system in movie rating, a “C” is the most appropriate rating for “R” movies. So I think that you are going to get into problems when you begin to play with that and choose when you want to do it and when you don’t want to do it, as the board continues to do.”
Father Sebastian Campbell, the priest of All Saints Anglican Church who is a long severing member of the board, believes that there needs to be a stricter rating system in The Bahamas.
“I believe that a “C” rates movie should be banned in the Bahamas, he said. ” We would like to know what’s going on in the region so that we could make some kind of comparison.”
Yvette Rolle-Major, The Bahama Journal
