I get no pleasure from blogging about any censorship (or anything that warrants the attention of STOTC), but I have to admit I’m a little relieved that this post isn’t about mandatory filtering. A welcome change, even if an unwelcome incident: Greater Union has stopped showing The Combination (MA15+) in their NSW cinemas after ‘violence flared’ among patrons in Parramatta on Saturday according to News.com.au.
The film as described is being a powerful and deeply affecting story of a contemporary Lebanese family in urban Australia and is said to shed light on the racial tension that has often boiled over into incidents like the Cronulla riots.
NSW Police said they received a report of four people involved in an altercation at Parramatta cinemas with about 50 onlookers, on Saturday at 5.38pm (AEDT).
“Police attended the next minute and there were no signs of anyone fighting. The cinema had asked people to move on,” police said.
An earlier incident in Parramatta on Thursday – the first day of the film’s release – involved a security guard being set upon by a group of young people, after a youth was asked to leave the cinema because he was smoking.
The guard was hurt but his injuries weren’t serious, police said.
No one was arrested in either incident but police investigations are continuing.
Greater Union said that maintaining the safety and security of their staff and patrons is their main concern and priority as such all sessions of this film within NSW, but the ban feels like an overreaction to me. The later incident could be unrelated to the film’s content and the earlier incident involving the smoker could have happened during any movie.
Here’s a trailer:
