behind the shield of war and terrorism, there are many other little wars going on

Today Salon has a couple of articles about a new movie by Bertolucci and the artistic problems caused by bending over backward for the MPAA. The review of the film and the interview that accompanies it really make me want to see this movie, but they also hit on something that all the movie-rating boards in the history of the US have never understood: that being totally naked is less obscene than hiding behind the corner of a bedsheet. That strategic scrap of cloth constitutes an admission of guilt. It shouts, "What you would see here, if this movie hadn't been required to snag an R rating, is bad!" But just standing, unclothed, can be an expression of just how unashamed and normal that action is.