Letter: Film censors deny reality

Sir: As the busiest film censors in Europe beaver away on our behalf, diligently protecting us from the tide of filth and violence that threatens to engulf our pristine isle, storm clouds gather. If James Ferman and his team set aside their scissors and red pens for a moment, they will hear audiences cheering as Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction wins the best film award at Cannes.

Tarantino's first two films, Reservoir Dogs and True Romance, have both been refused video licences. Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, a study of redemption, has also been refused a certificate, doubtless on the grounds that it's fine to show a man being redeemed, but unacceptable to see his journey. The Good Son failed to get even a cinema release, because it had the audacity to investigate evil in a child. Our moral guardians have decided that after the Bulger case it is preferable to close our minds to such things.

Until we accept that film has a right, as well as a responsibility, to investigate every facet of human existence, we will be guilty of the grossest hypocrisy. It's fine for such things to happen, but we must not see them. As the world looks into the mirror, we turn and face the wall.

Yours faithfully,

JEREMY DRYSDALE

Weybridge, Surrey