Having read the magazines and collected the toys, Ghadah Khalil's children could not wait to see the film. But just 15 minutes into The Dark Knight, Mrs Khalil marched them out of the Dubai cinema, horrified by what they had already seen of the new Batman blockbuster.
"I took my children thinking it was a family movie," said the 43-year-old Lebanese mother of three. "But I will not have my four, six and 11-year-olds watch a violent intense movie like this. There were children of all ages in there and some were unaccompanied. If I found the film stomach-turning then you can only wonder what it is doing to young children." She did not leave without lodging a complaint with the management of the Cinestar cinema in Deira City Centre, demanding that more information be provided for parents.
Since opening to packed houses a fortnight ago, The Dark Knight has broken several box-office records and is still filling cinemas throughout the UAE. The PG-15 rating means children under 15 can watch the film provided they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. But the misgivings expressed by Mrs Khalil and other parents have now been endorsed at government level. The Ministry of Social Affairs, concerned that children are being exposed to what it calls "twisted" and "psychotic" scenes, has criticised the age classification, describing the film as unsuitable for young viewers. The ministry's view has also won support from a senior clinical psychologist.
"Families should do their research before taking children to watch a movie like Batman that has been passed with a parental guidance rating," said Abdullah al Hayder, the spokesman for minors' affairs at the Department of Social Affairs in Abu Dhabi. "We are not Europeans or Americans, our values are different." Mr Hayder's principal reservations about the film concerned the portrayal of the Joker, Batman's criminal nemesis, by Heath Ledger.
It was not, he insisted, a film suitable for anyone aged 17 or under. "Dark, twisted and psychotic are not exactly the kind of character traits we want our children to follow," he said. "Children are very impressionable and if they see this then they want to act like their heroes. The film should have had an 18 rating." The relatively permissive classification was awarded despite scenes of violence that include shootings, stabbings, explosions, savage beatings and torture. The film has been actively marketed at youngsters, with promotions on television, children's websites, newspapers, magazines, billboards and fast-food outlets.
In some cinemas in Dubai, children as young as five have been seen attending midnight screenings. Azar Katouli, a clinical psychologist at Dubai Community Health Centre, said that exposure to such films could lead children to become more aggressive. "People cannot see that they should not take their children to such movies because young children can understand spoken language and can understand what is going on in the movie," she said.
"We know for a fact aggression is learnt by modelling, so when a child observes aggressive behaviour, children model by repeating, modelling aggression by watching. This works on a subconscious level, where children become aggressive non-intentionally. For children aged between five and 12 to watch The Dark Knight is wrong." Rose Marie, the manager at Cinestar, said staff were doing all they could to stop children watching the movie unless in the company of adults, but admitted that not enough information on the content of the film was being provided for families.
"The film has had its rating agreed by the ministry and we can't stop families taking their children to watch Batman," she said. "It is causing us a problem. Customers sneak in and jump from movie to movie and they are causing problems, and customers complain. We check their tickets, and we take them out of the theatre." Mr Hayder said yesterday that parents who took their children to watch movies restricted to viewers of at least 15 or 18 and lied about the ages of their sons and daughters would be given warnings and repeat offenders could be fined.
He said the department was campaigning for tougher restrictions and higher age limits on new releases that did not adhere to the UAE's cultural values. "We need to protect our children from violent and sexual scenes that are slowly creeping into film releases," he said. The Dark Knight, which broke a string of records in the US, topped the box office in its first week here and in only four days was seen by 110,211 people.
It also broke the record for the biggest midnight show, following a number of sold-out screenings starting at, or just before, midnight on July 24, and recorded the biggest opening for an Imax film in the country, with sold-out performances at the country's only giant Imax screen, at Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai. Despite the concerns about content, there is little sign that appetite for the film is diminishing. Among people of all ages queuing for tickets at the Mall of the Emirates Cinestar yesterday were the Abdalla family, including four-year-old Bahja and nine-year-old son Qusai.
Their father, Taha Abdalla, said: "The children have been talking about the film, desperately wanting to see it, having seen all the promotions and advertisements. We felt it would be appropriate to take them to see it. "I'm aware of the age limit on the film, but I'm going to explain to the children the difference between good and bad. I would never bring them to a film which contains rude words."
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