'It's Bulls***': Adam Yauch Calls MPAA Out for Giving Doc an 'R' Rating

Beastie Boy and upstart indie distributor Adam Yauch today lashed out at the MPAA ratings board, which recently slapped an "R" rating on the Holocaust documentary A Film Unfinished. Yauch's Oscilloscope Laboratories, which will release the film this month, plans to officially appeal Thursday. And in a statement just fired over the transom, it sounds like he can't wait.

A Film Unfinished "documents an unfinished Nazi propaganda film shot in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942," compiling footage that reveals earlier footage to have been staged to help soften the ghetto's image. The ratings board recently handed it an "R" for "disturbing images of Holocaust atrocities including graphic nudity."

Not cool, said Yauch, per an official O-Scope release:

"This is too important of a historical document to ban from classrooms. While there's no doubt that Holocaust atrocities are displayed, if teachers feel their students are ready to understand what happened, it's essential that young people are giving [sic] the opportunity to see this film. Why deny them the chance to learn about this critical part of our human history? I understand that the MPAA wants to protect children's eyes from things that are too overwhelming, but they've really gone too far this time. It's bulls***."

Agreed, but that's the MPAA for you. "Graphic nudity" will get you every single time -- and as countermeasures go, a public takedown of the organization the week your appeal isn't exactly recommended. In any case, it's nice to see Yauch stand up to the board in his first ratings skirmish. And it's not like this kind of thing is impossible -- it helps to have Julia Roberts and an MPAA signatory with billions of dollars behind you, but still. Keep hope alive, etc.