Russian authorities have refused to license the "Borat" comedy film that has taken US box offices by storm over fear it would offend audiences here, The Moscow Times daily reported. "The film contains material that some viewers may consider offensive to certain nationalities and religions," the paper quoted Yury Vasyuchkov, the head of the agency that licenses films for theater distribution, as saying on Thursday.
If the ban is upheld, the movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," would be one of the first non-pornographic films banned in Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The film, starring English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, is about a fictional misogynistic, wife-beating Kazakh journalist who depicts Kazakhstan as a country whose people are addicted to horse urine and are fond of rape, incest and shooting dogs.
The movie had been scheduled to open in 300 theaters nationwide in Russia on November 30 and the distributor, 20th Century Fox in Russia, can still appeal against the Federal Culture and Cinematography Agency's refusal to grant the license.
