Artistic Freedom Vindicated

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2001)

I am old enough to remember when the use of the word "virgin" made a movie off limit to those under 16. (The Moon is Blue, 1951) Only during the sixties did all restraints on film censorship end. This opened the floodgates of pornography (fine for its purpose) and unfettered depiction of dehumanizing violence. It made me wonder whether the advantages of freedom compensated for the coarsening of sensibilities that came with the downward spiral of sex, violence and exploitation.
Then we have American Beauty. This film is a magnificent work of art, one that couldn't have achieved this perfection without the ability to realistically depict language and images that would have been banned in the olden days. This is the reason that the battle was fought, the rare example of art that inspires and illuminates a particular time and place. All of those pioneers, some of whom served hard time in prison, to insure freedom of expression, are vindicated by a film such as this.