“Children’s films” disturb me

Years ago I took my daughter to see her first film. She was about three then. ‘Suriya Arana’, was advertised on television as a children’s film. The visuals were pretty and the song, ‘iren handen’, was melodious and lyrical. She liked the song and the images. She didn’t know what ‘film’ was so I told her ‘it is like a beeeeeg tv’. Half an hour into the film she said, ‘appachchi, meka sera chitrapatiyak’ and started crying.

Last Sunday I took her and her little sister to see ‘Bindu’, also by the same film-maker. There were no ‘adults only’ tag and the advertising indicated ‘children’s film’ (the director says ‘family film’; the distinction is meaningless). Neither of the children made any comments this time.

They just bawled. The younger girl clung to her mother and the older one got off her seat and hid behind the seat in front. Perhaps they are over sensitive.

‘Bindu’ is a story about a baby elephant and two children. It revolves around the friendship between the children and the elephant and is framed in the broader issues of human-elephant conflict and the politics that results from the inter-relationships of politician, law enforcement authority, ignorance, poverty and plundering of environment. These are adult themes. Scripting two children into the main roles does not make it a children’s film.

This is not a film-review, so I will not evaluate its worth in terms of plot, cinematography, character development and performance. My concerns are different here.

There is a reason why films get tagged ‘Adults Only’. In some countries, like the USA, films are rated ‘PG13’ which I believe restricts the film to adult audiences and for children over 13 as long as they are accompanied by a parent.

In Sri Lanka there is a Censor Board to evaluate content and assign ‘Adults Only’ tag where necessary. One assumes then that those films which do not have such restriction are alright for children to view. ‘Bindu’ didn’t come with an ‘R’ of any kind.

‘Bindu’ is a film that is full of violence. It contains language that is not suitable for little children to hear. It contains scenes that can traumatize little children; for example, that of a mother and child being killed by a marauding elephant, and of course the killing of animals. It is no consolation that the film condemns this violence. The director and producer, then are guilty of misleading the viewing public into believing through advertisements (including trailers).

The director, when asked if he would grade his creations as ‘children’s movies’ had replied thus: ‘“People identify them in the wrong manner. I refer to them as family films as they can be viewed even by children.

“They discuss common problems in the society which are serious matters. They are more relevant to adults than children, though children are the main characters”.

He is correct in that the film is more relevant to adults than children, but ‘can be viewed even by children’? I think not. When you say ‘family film’ it implies that it is suitable for any age, but this is not something that is suitable for little children. ‘PG13’ might be a more appropriate qualifier, but we don’t have that kind of label. Maybe we should. My wife and I had a time trying to pacify them. All they remembered was that the little boy lost his father, mother and baby sister and in extremely violent ways.

There is no way that children can be completely insulated from the violence that exists in society. Neither should children be sheltered from recognizing that such violence exists around them. However, there is a time and place for all that. There is an age when they are able to process certain kinds of information. Until then exposing them to these ‘realities’ can do much damage.

A few weeks ago, we took them to see ‘Ice Age’ at the Liberty. Now ‘Ice Age’ was widely advertised as a children’s film. A lot of what passes as material for their consumption, for example, ‘Tom and Jerry’ and ‘Bugs Bunny’ are pretty violent. My problem was less with ‘Ice Age’ than what preceded it. The trailers, ‘the-coming-soons’ were not children’s films. In fact there was a lot of adult content in them. Children, eagerly waiting for the film to start are more or less forced to watch these clips. There’s something wrong here. I am not sure who should be doing the regulating, but someone ought to.

In the case of films like ‘Bindu’, I believe the Censor Board should be more careful in their sanctioning. They have been lax here. The producer and director have the freedom to make whatever film they want of course, but those who make up the membership of the Censor Board get paid to do a job. I believe they have not taken their responsibilities seriously enough. I think I was suckered into watching this film with my children and I feel embarrassed. I decided then and there that I will check out ‘children’s films’ myself before taking my children to see them. Shouldn’t be that way, but I don’t think there’s any other way.