Malaysia HATED Schindler's List
Here is a FACT (at least according to Wikipedia) -
In Malaysia, Schindler's List was initially banned, with the censors suggesting it seemed to be Jewish propaganda, informing the distributor that "the story reflects the privilege and virtues of a certain race only" and "It seems the illustration is propaganda with the purpose of asking for sympathy as well as to tarnish the other race."
And after digging around just a tad, it seems this is inexplicably true… Malaysia banned Schindler's List essentially for being "too pro-Jewish."
("I'm being serious, Liam.")
Now I know different cultures have seemingly peculiar reasons for which they decide to ban movies in their respective countries.
Iran at one time banned the movie 300 because of its unfair depiction of Persians as non-muscular losers compared to the ripped and virtuous Spartans…. And I get it. That movie had me convinced that Persians were only good for two things:
- Rugs.
- And getting kicked into gigantic wells that probably should've had some sort of safety fence built around them.
Similarly, I once wrote a screenplay for a sequel to the animated hit Ratatouille. This time, it was set in Germany and was titled Ratwurst. The Disney people found the plot too repetitive, plus the rodent’s tiny mustache freaked them out… I get that too.
But I can’t fathom the reasoning behind Malaysia’s move here… Even after reading this Big J article from the LA Times.
The reason I bring up this desperately random factoid?
Well, this week on Twisted History, we ended the show with a Snake Draft because that idea has not yet been beaten to death by every franchise at Barstool.
This time, we drafted The Best Historical Movies or TV Shows… And we mean “Historical” not so much because of their accuracy, but their ability to get the viewer interested in a historical event enough to learn more about it… And maybe see what the movie got wrong.
The biggest criterion was entertainment. Historic precision was secondary. And inevitably, Schindler made that list.
Give the episode a listen, or simply give the draft results a look, and decide who did the best job.
Take a report.
-Large
Full episode is here…
TAR
-L