Faith based films have always had a hard time breaking through to mainstream audiences. Mainly due to the excessive preachiness of their messages. With the new faith based film My Son the MPAA has slammed an R-rating on it for "some violence and brief drug use." Faith based films already have a hard enough time getting through to audiences as it is, but with an R-rating now attached it may seem near impossible. The church that is distributing it and the director, Jarod O’Flaherty are both making arguments with the MPAA to have the rating appealed.
O'Flaherty is sure that due to the religious message of this film the MPAA deemed it with the R-rating. He told Fox News that “There’s no [bad] language in the film at all, but when you compare the content that is this film to even the mildest PG-13 action movies that are out there, the content of our film comes in as much less graphic… So it raises some questions about what was it in this film that got us the R-rating?” O'Flaherty and the church's discussions with the MPAA have been unsuccessful so far.
My Son with only a budget of $25,000 financed by Retta Baptist Church, Pastor Chuck Kitchens believes there is something fishy going on with the R-rating. He tells Kens 5 "There could be some kind of bias against our message, which is the presentation of the Gospel,” he said. “I don't know that. I can't prove that." The film is said to have no harsh language, and very mild violence. What do you think, is the MPAA giving this film an R-rating strictly due to bias and the religious message?
Photo Courtesy of Fox News