NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 157

servicemen who had fought in the Vietnam war. They have built a hidden fortress in the desert in preparation for a nuclear war which their leader, Major Hargrave, predicts is inevitable, their intention to be survivors after such a war by being in a position to defend themselves from the marauding masses. It is apparent from the opening scenes that they are a group of misfits who behave irrationally and unpredictably.

A young attractive woman, Tina, arrives to spend a few months at a nearby attractive mountain town to write the biography of her father. Her path soon crosses that of one of the group of men, Manny, who confronts her in threatening ways. She effectively repulses his advances on these occasions which results in Manny, exhibiting increasing psychotic behaviour and a desire to seek retribution.

Manny eventually succeeds in capturing Tina and takes her to the desert fortress.

For the first 23 minutes of the video there is little action that would give rise to concern or would warrant categorisation of the video on the grounds of sections 23 (b), (c), (d) or (e) of the Act. In the opening shots however the men discuss their violent exploits in Vietnam in a very graphic and boastful way. The message is portrayed that they are proud of their brutal exploits.

A violent scene erupts 23 minutes into the video. It involves a battle to the death between the ex-servicemen and a tough bikie gang who use the desert as their playground and who decide "to go get the soldier boys". The battle in which the "soldiers" use their mass of armaments to fight off the bikes results in the death of most of the gang: those who survive the "battle" are taken prisoner only to be shot through the head shortly after except for one young woman, Linda, who is imprisoned and given to Manny for his pleasure.

Upon Tina’s capture she is also imprisoned with Linda whom she befriends. Linda is later killed by Manny who slits her throat. Tina at the Major’s instigation is raped by the men and is about to be killed. At the last moment the Major re-enters. Tina is given a two hour head start after which she will be hunted and killed. This sets the scene for the video’s theme: that of vengeance.

Tina sets off into the mountains unarmed while the men set about preparing their large array of weapons. The rest of the video, with the exception of 3–4 minutes, shows how Tina obtains her vengeance by killing each of the men by extremely violent means.

Interspered throughout the video are the exploits of two violent psychopaths who roam the area randomly killing innocent victims who cross their paths. These exploits add nothing to the story and are merely a vehicle for introducing further gratuitous scenes of brutality.

5. After viewing the video the Board considered at length the matters it is required to address which are set out in subsections (2) and (4) of section 21 of the Act and reached the following conclusions:

(a) The dominant effect of the video is the depiction of violence, intimidation, brutality and terrorising activities which result in death. All the main characters in the video, with the exception of Tina and the two random killers, are killed.

(b) The camera work was adequate and the setting attractive, but the video has no artistic, social or cultural merit. The acting is inferior, the scenes disjointed and at times difficult to follow. The story line is weak being merely a vehicle for portraying a series of violent and brutal acts.

(c) The video is targeted at young males as it projects a macho image pandering to male fantasies. It would also attract a young female audience given the fact it depicts a young woman seeking vengeance and obtaining her revenge.

(d) The video depicts anti-social behaviour to a considerable degree. Although in the first 23 minutes no physical violence occurs, thereafter a series of violent scenes are depicted which include terrorising, torture, rape and brutality; many scenes being entirely gratuitous to the story. There is a total disregard for life and many highly threatening situations shown against women. The fact that Tina obtains her revenge by the same brutal means is disturbing.

(e) The video is denigrating to women. In a large proportion of the scenes women are portrayed as mere objects to be used by the men as they see fit for their pleasure.

(f) The intention of the video is to attract a mainly young audience, both male and female, with its macho image and retribution by a woman theme.

(g) The vocabulary used is extremely limited, predictable and clichéd and without merit. There is limited use of background music which contributed little to the video. Limited obscene vocabulary was used repeatedly but was not excessively offensive.

6. The board recognises that a large number of videos of a violent nature are readily available. Unremitting and frequently gratuitous violence shown after the first 23 minutes and the total lack of respect for life takes it outside the ambit of many of these videos.

7. Conclusion: Taking into account the matters addressed above the board, by a unanimous decision, has determined the video Angel of Vengeance, be classified as indecent.

B. CUTRESS, Chairperson.

Decision of the Video Recordings Board of Review

1. The distributor, Video Excellence Ltd., sought a review of the Video Recordings Authority’s classification of the video Tales of the Backside as indecent.

2. The Video Recordings Board of Review (the board) has re-examined the video in accordance with section 38 of the Video Recordings Act 1987 (the Act).

3. The video is comprised mainly of scenes of between 10–15 minutes duration depicting couples and threesomes (one man and two women) performing a wide range of explicit sexual activities with emphasis on heterosexual anal sex. There is no story line.

Preceding the video is a succinct informative promo which advocates the use of specific preventative measures to avoid contracting AIDS. This commendable approach is completely negated however by the video in which condoms are never used.

4. The board took into consideration, as it is required to do, the matters outlined in subsections (2) and (4) of section 21 of the Act and formed the following conclusions:

(a) The dominant effect of the video is the depiction of a large range of sexual activities including cunnilingus, oral sex, vaginal intercourse, analingus and anal sex.

(b) The video has no artistic social or cultural merit. It uses however sophisticated cinematographic techniques including split and multiple images, reversed negatives, freeze frames and extremely close-up shots. The occasions on which such techniques are used produces a sense of unreality to the scenes. It is a competent commercial presentation from a cinematic viewpoint.

(c) The video would be viewed by predominantly adult males and by older male teenagers.

(d) A large part of the video depicts anti social acts which could cause considerable concern in that:

(i) The majority of the sexual activities shown are totally divorced from normal sexual intimacy. There is almost no foreplay, touching, caressing and a lack of sensitivity: the type of activities which are normally associated with sexual relationships;