1. For Being "Sympathetic To The Jewish Cause" - Schindler's List
While Spielberg is better known by many for his action-packed blockbusters, he also proved himself capable of serious filmmaking with the release of the award-winning Schindler's List, a moving and powerful examination of one man's struggle to save the lives of as many Jews as possible held in the Nazi concentration camps. Such a powerful indictment of a tragic period in human history might have been highly praised by most who saw it, but the same couldn't be said for the censors in Indonesia - they banned Schindler's List for being "sympathetic to the Jewish cause" revealing what many saw as an underlying antisemitism in the political heart of the nation. While this isn't necessarily true, it's nevertheless one of the most bizarre justifications for censorship in the history of cinema. Given the country's own history of genocide - as covered in the shocking documentary The Act Of Killing - such a ban was understandably seen by many as tastlessly hypocritical. What other films have famously been censored for bizarre reasons? Let us know in the comments below.
