Bohemian Rhapsody is now out in Malaysian cinemas and Film Twitter Malaysia is going bananas thanks to Asrul Muzaffar’s tweet on the 10th of November. Before we go any further, let’s take a look at the Tweet (below).
Di negara lain, #BohemianRhapsody diberi rating PG-13 dengan durasi 134 minit (sumber IMDb).
Di Malaysia, filem ini diberi rating 18 dan durasinya dipotong menjadi 110 minit (sumber TGV).
Lembaga Penapis Filem Malaysia kolot, mandom dan harus dibubarkan sahaja pic.twitter.com/9aRKxE9PmZ
— Asrul Muzaffar🇲🇾 (@asrulmm) November 10, 2018
The Tweet basically translates to:
“In other countries, Bohemian Rhapsody is given a PG-13 rating and has a runtime of 134 minutes (source: IMDb). In Malaysia, this film is rated 18 and is chopped down to 110 minutes (source TGV). The Malaysian censor board is outdated, stupid and should be abolished.”
As of this writing, the tweet has been retweeted 634 times, with more than 350 likes. This tweet and its reactions — many have encouraged Malaysians to not catch this movie in cinemas, and wait for it to drop on streaming services instead — have even been picked up by Malay Mail.
People, people, people. Calm your tits!
While I don’t disagree that the Lembaga Penapis Filem (Film Censorship Board of Malaysia) is laughably ridiculous at times (most of the time, in fact), this tweet is tremendously exaggerated.
Let’s look at the facts.
Yes, the official runtime of Bohemian Rhapsody is 134 minutes. However, the Malaysian version IS NOT 110 minutes as mentioned in the Tweet. I just called up 20th Century Fox Malaysia and they have officially confirmed that the Malaysian runtime of Bohemian Rhapsody is 131 minutes. I personally caught the movie twice, once during a press screening and again with a bunch of my friends. I remember checking my phone just as the film was about to start and then another time after it ended. I can concur that the movie does in fact run at 131 minutes. But if you don’t take my word for it in fear that I’m a complete dumbass (I don’t blame you), here’s a tweet by Umapagan from BFM At the Movies.
I’ve checked and can confirm that were approximately 3 minutes worth of cuts in #BohemianRhapsody. 24 minutes is a gross exaggeration. The TGV website clearly hadn’t updated their listing.
— Umapagan Ampikaipakan (@umapagan) November 12, 2018
And also screenshots from GSC and TGV (updated):
The initial 110 minutes screenshot was probably just a typo on TGV’s end.
This isn’t to say that the film isn’t censored at all. It is. There’s a three-minute difference (still unacceptable) between the uncensored US version and the version we get to see in Malaysian cinemas. For starters, the entire ‘I want to Break Free’ song — which takes up a majority of the three minutes — where members of Queen crossdress is unfortunately completely cut out. There’s also a scene towards the end where Freddie mouths the word ‘AIDS’. In the Malaysian version, that word is muted (however, ‘AIDS’ is mentioned in the subtitles). The scene where Freddie opens up about his sexual orientation to his wife is also edited in a way to make the details slightly vague (though, it’s still pretty obvious).
There are also other minor cuts here and there and while it is frustrating (the censorship is three minutes too long if you ask me) the film is mostly left as the director intended it to be seen. We see Freddie holding other men’s hands. And we also EXPLICITLY see Freddie in multiple relationships with MEN.
While I don’t support film censorship whatsoever; while I do hope for a day where Malaysians will get the chance to watch completely uncut versions of films in local cinemas, there’s no denying that the viral tweet is not only inaccurate but also blown way out of proportion. The three minutes that is censored does not affect the movie’s plot to a noticeable degree (though it does prevent a more wholesome cultural discourse). Please go and catch this movie in cinemas. That said, I also want to make it very clear, that I do not support censorship of the arts in any way, shape or form. Three minutes or 20 minutes, LPF can shove it up their ass.
Also, do click here for our Bohemian Rhapsody review.
And if you’d like to discuss this movie with me you can hit me up on Twitter here: @dashtalksmovies
