"No film is ever "harmless". Each one plants a seed, an emotion, a dream, some "otherness" in the mind of the spectator. However, there are periods and places that resemble a powder keg; in those circumstances, a film can easily assume the role of the spark.
Cinema is often considered the synthesis of all the other arts and it certainly condenses their respective impact; it is also largely recognized that the language of images is the most accessible of all forms of communication.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the idea of banning or censoring films almost coincided with the birth of cinema. If nowadays one associates the muzzling of arts with totalitarian regimes, it used to be an established practice around the world.
The following ten films prove that, quite often, it was not the citizens' integrity or public decency that was at stake, but other undisclosable reasons."
