Why Wolf of Wall Street Was Banned in Kenya

Conversation among Kenya’s social media community absolutely blew up recently when news trickled in that the government, through the Kenya Film Classification Board (../../KFCB.jpg) had banned the acclaimed American film “The Wolf of Wall Street”. The movie is outlawed because of its display of very graphic sex scenes, nudity, drugs and alcoholism. Everybody immediately went into overdrive, with vast speculation over why that one film, in particular, in a country where practically everything goes (or most things have), got banned.

The ban is not unique to the Kenyan market. The Wolf of Wall Street has also been banned in deeply conservative nations such as Malaysia and Nepal, while other audiences will get to see shorter versions of the film. Critics would suggest that the move is highly counterproductive as it only seems to have sparked a huge interest among a lot of people.

Let’s dive in and get a few facts right first: there are two distinct entities under the Ministry of Information & Communication which govern the film industry in Kenya. The first one is the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) whose main mandate is marketing Kenya as a premier film destination and development of infrastructure and promoting the film industry (in Kenya and internationally) as well as facilitating investments in film projects. The second one is the Kenya Film Classification Board (../../KFCB.jpg). ../../KFCB.jpg’s role is mostly regulatory. They ensure that all films and posters in the country are examined and classified before being displayed, exhibited, hired, sold or broadcast to the public by video libraries, video shows, cinema theaters, video vendors, broadcasters, or anyone who might want to screen anything to the public, they rate the films, give licenses, and make sure that laws regarding film are not infringed.

So where do you draw the line between regulation and dictation? Do we have a defined moral code for everyone? In the past, the Kenyan horror film “Otto: The Blood Bath” was banned because of being bloody and showing dead bodies.

In the past, Kenya has showed on big screen many films with SNLV warning in major theatres. If this continues, it’s a show of the long road to liberalization of artistic freedom and creativity, which we (as a country and institutions) are yet to achieve. Have you had a chance to watch the film? Let us know what do you think?

By Gerald Ndungu.