Zimbabwe's Fifty Shades of Grey release was heavily chopped by censorship rules. One theater in the capital Harare even refused to run the film at all because of the strict regulations.
On Friday, a Board of Censors found some scenes in the film adaptation of E.L. James' novel too indecent to be shown in public. This decision is not unique, as the Board of Censors chairman Heya Malaba, 95, has been uncompromising about erotic movie scenes in the past.
Curiously enough, the overall time of sex and sex-related scenes in this NC-17 125-minute movie barely exceeds 14 minutes. In fact, the filmmakers already made most of the censoring by themselves.
Local Zimbabweans, however, are not too worried by the censorship, as video-piracy in African countries is extremely wide-spread. Harare resident Stam Zengeni says he is unconcerned about censorship. He plans to buy a pirated copy of the film for $1.
