Aussies Fuming Over Hannibal Rating

February 8, 2001 -- In the United States, Hannibal, the long-awaited sequel to 1990's Oscar-sweeping Silence of the Lambs, which opens Friday, is rated R — and a very hard R at that.

But in Australia, the thriller, which features disembowelings, people being eaten alive by wild boars, and much, much, worse, is rated the equivalent of the MPAA's PG.

Naturally, the prospect of children under 15 being allowed to waltz in to see Anthony Hopkins slaughter a new batch of folks is causing a bit of an uproar Down Under.

The MA (Mature accompanied) rating by Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification attracted scathing criticism from one of the country's most prominent film critics and resulted in calls by parents for Australian film censors to be tougher on violence in films.

"Letting children see this is lunacy," read the Sydney Morning Herald headline of film critic Lynden Barber's review. Barber says he walked out of a preview screening of Hannibal, calling it "the first time in my career as a film writer that I have been literally unable to stomach a film."

He opines that the film, which will be released in Australia next week, should have been rated R (Restricted to adults only), the most severe rating possible.

The Australian ratings board defended its decision, saying that, in its opinion, the violence in Hannibal was not gratuitous, and that most of the mayhem is "not high impact … and, in fact, not detailed."

In case you were wondering, The Silence of the Lambs, which featured a killer keen on skinning his victims, was rated M (Mature) in Australia, a non-restrictive rating recommending that only audience members aged 15 and over be allowed.

Reuters contributed to this story.