Another Independent Spirit Award, Best Documentary nominee is This Film is Not Yet Rated by Kirby Dick. I’m watching these films as I am eligible to vote for the awards and I figured I’d report on the films in the doc category. Much like The Road to Guantanamo, This Film left me wanting more.

Dick does a fantastic job of illustrating the process of the MPAA ratings board and the sheer absurdity of it given that the MPAA, which is a lobby collective of the Hollywood studios, effectively uses ratings to censor independent content (that which is made outside of the studio system). By discovering the identity of the up-to-now secret raters, Dick uncovers lackadaisical following of their own rules which has major implications for film artists and takes on a sort of grand significance.

Few would argue the need to give film goers some guidelines to help them judge the content of a film before sitting down in front of it, so the question becomes what is the best way to do this and who should have the responsibility? The MPAA is funded entirely by the studios so it always serves their interests; it isn’t an independent or objective body. Though some in the film call for government to oversee the process, the whole reason that it is handled within the industry is to avoid government censorship. Where in the world is government oversight of artistic content better than what currently goes on with the MPAA? Even the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has had major struggles with government and content on public broadcasting in recent years. Let’s not kid ourselves.