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Films from the Seventies and Eighties.
There are films from the Seventies and Eighties you might loosely label "art house." They break boundaries, are innovative, and out of the norm. Often produced on a budget and frequently with non-professional actors, these films can be interesting. At the same time, they demand you approach them with expectations somewhat reduced, these are not the same as you might usually expect from the cinema.
Anthony Aikman, an interesting person in himself, produced one such film in 1972, titled The Genesis Children. It premiered in August of that year in Los Angeles, but was withdrawn a few weeks later because It was deemed unacceptable by the public at large. It remained controversial due to lengthy scenes of full nudity showing teenage and preteen boys. It was felt to be "very benign" by the US ratings board and given an X rating.
![http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=5155&private=0](http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=5155&private=0)
The film expresses a mystical naturism and is a very earnest expression of naturist philosophy. The script is non-linear and a little difficult to follow. It is summarised here: The plot, such as it is, concerns eight American lads (ages about ten to sixteen) living in Rome, who are lured to a small Italian coastal town by a newspaper ad calling for boys `to act in a play.' Along the way, they encounter a man (played by Vincent Child) who appears to them in various guises: a priest; a teacher; a policeman; a politician. Directed by him to a secluded beach and finding themselves alone, they hang out for several days, swimming and sunbathing au natural. Indeed, this may be the ultimate skinnydipping movie. While there, they have some adventures. They explore a cave. They raise and repair a sunken rowboat, only to have it sink again. They attempt to steal food from a local farmer. They drive an abandoned van and end up wrecking it. Much of Genesis Children is Tom Sawyerish, but ends more like a milder `Lord of the Flies.'
On the surface, it's quite innocent except for an act of vandalism near the conclusion, which causes the boys to argue and breakup, some returning to civilisation and some choosing to stay. Also, there is a brief, ambiguous conversation between one of the younger kids and an older boy implying sexual activity.
On the downside, the production is rather amateurish and the acting a bit wooden. The cast is obviously made up of nonprofessionals.
On the upside, the color photography is outstanding with gorgeous shots of Rome and the Italian towns, countryside and coast. There is also a catchy musical score.
It must be said that Genesis Children is not intended for all audiences. Many would be offended by the extensive nudity parts of the film. I would think its appeal would mainly be for those interested in naturism and lovers of unconventional movie making.
The film can be viewed online for free using the link below. There is another site, but they require registration, so I haven't included it. https://m.ok.ru/video/88935631530
Link to Anthony Aikman: http://www.anthonyaikman.co.uk/
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It's a film I'm very fond of: there are places where it seems (for me) to capture the essence of boyhood. As an artwork, though, it's a mess (and, as I spent half my working life in Fringe Theatre, I consider myself a bit of an expert on artistic messes!).
I'd previously only known it from bad online copies, but a couple of months ago I actually acquired a decent DVD of it ... which I had to have sent from the USA to the UK, which was not cheap.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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Andichan
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Location: Hillmorton UK
Registered: December 2014
Messages: 26
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I would urge folk to be extremely cautious here. <dot ru> sites are notorious for launching ciber attacks and embedding malware into home computers, and fixing them isn't at all simple.
I haven't checked, but I would be surprised if this film is available through the mainstream market place, (Amazon, Ebay, and the like) due to its content. Nudity, no matter if it can be discribed as Art, is illegal here in the UK, and the US, if the subject of that nudity is under the age of 18. It is, therefore, very possible that by viewing this film via the site mentioned, is a means by which the organisation running that site are able to upload, and deeply embed, indecent images onto your system which could be used to extort money from you.
Be aware. Certainly here in the UK, it matters not how such images got there. If they're on your system, - and even if you think you've managed to delete them, forensics will find them, and you will automatically be found guilty of, and I quote: Making Indecent Images of Children, and Being in Possesion of Indecent Images of Children.
Please think carefully before going there.
Andy.
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Bisexual_Guy
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Location: USA Midwest
Registered: September 2015
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I must echo Andichan's caution for the US as well as the UK. Pictures and/or video of those under age 18 are illegal in most parts of the United States, and the exceptions are fraught with exceptions. Zealous prosecutors have even charged neighbors who were innocent but had non-encrypted wifi with crimes if a neighbor was tapping into their wifi and downloading pictures and video of those under age 18.
I would advise against even playing a DVD on a Smart TV.
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I'm in agreement with Bisexual_Guy. Here in the US viewing of underrage nudity is considered a crirme whether the content is intended as pornography or not. People have even been prorcecuted for having those innocent nudie pics every parent takes of their baby on their phone or in their wallet. Underage kids have been sent to juvie for having nudie selfies on their phones.
It's a crazy world out there. Zealots are everywhere. Use caution.
“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
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About the film content
Religion in the film
The author and director Anthony Aikman (1942-2011) appears to have been a deeply religious person, albeit not in the sense of a specific religious denomination. Apart from the text of the ad, also the very last sentences of the film expose it as a religious parable: 'Your play before God is completed.' − 'In the beginning there was God, but then man created God in his own image.' The 'sacred dance' scenes can evoke allusions to Psalm 126.[2] In addition, here and only here the music switches to church music of various origins (plainsong, church bells, Russian orthodox). Less directly, the religious character is also evidenced by the themes of fear, confidence and coming home, which play an important role.
Nakedness in the film.
The nudity scenes sum up to about an eighth of the length of the movie. The 'sacred dance' scenes of the beginning of their 'play' make extensive use of slow-motion and cross-fading (presumably as a means of demonstrating a mental state of feeling relieved instead of a development or action), by which nakedness is often blurred. Inspecting the film shows that the 'closeup shots of the pelvic area' put forward by the rating administration do not exist in a strict sense: bringing the pelvic area into picture is not fully avoided, yet never centered, never really closeup, but always casually.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genesis_Children
The film is available on DVD (you need to check the Region, the first is Region 1 only) at $12 to $15, (it is currently out of stock on Amazon) from https://www.classicmoviereel.com/genesisdvd.html
or https://dvdlady.com/dvd/the-genesis-children-1972-starring-v incent-child-on-dvd/
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Mark
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Another similar film is a Danish film titled "You Are Not Alone" (a 1970s coming-of-age film set in a Danish all-boys- boarding school) which did involve scences of full frontal nudity of two of its lead actors (who were 15 and 12 at the time of filming). The director later acknowledged in a 2009 interview that the film couldn't be made today. (In 2018, 6 former male actors and 16 former female actors accused the movie's two directors of sexual abuse during the production of that movie and others. Erns Johansen acknolwedged having had sex with underaged female actors, but claims both that they made a pass on him first and that he was unaware of the age of consent in Denmark - 15 - at the time)
I also can't help but be reminded of "Lord off the Flies" - when people think of the movie version, they often think of the 1990 American version, though those who are more familiar with it know of the 1963 British version, which did also have some youth nudity in it (though frontal nuidty was generally from a distance, with closer-ups being from the side, and that didn't show anything scandelous).
All three movies involved boys who weren't generally professional actors.
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Bisexual_Guy
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Location: USA Midwest
Registered: September 2015
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"Talo Segura wrote on Sat, 01 August 2020 05:31"About the film content[/font-family]
Religion in the film
The author and director Anthony Aikman (1942-2011) appears to have been a deeply religious person, albeit not in the sense of a specific religious denomination. Apart from the text of the ad, also the very last sentences of the film expose it as a religious parable: 'Your play before God is completed.' − 'In the beginning there was God, but then man created God in his own image.' The 'sacred dance' scenes can evoke allusions to Psalm 126.[2] In addition, here and only here the music switches to church music of various origins (plainsong, church bells, Russian orthodox). Less directly, the religious character is also evidenced by the themes of fear, confidence and coming home, which play an important role.[/font-size]
Nakedness in the film.
The nudity scenes sum up to about an eighth of the length of the movie. The 'sacred dance' scenes of the beginning of their 'play' make extensive use of slow-motion and cross-fading (presumably as a means of demonstrating a mental state of feeling relieved instead of a development or action), by which nakedness is often blurred. Inspecting the film shows that the 'closeup shots of the pelvic area' put forward by the rating administration do not exist in a strict sense: bringing the pelvic area into picture is not fully avoided, yet never centered, never really closeup, but always casually.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genesis_Children
The film is available on DVD (you need to check the Region, the first is Region 1 only) at $12 to $15, (it is currently out of stock on Amazon) from https://www.classicmoviereel.com/genesisdvd.html
or https://dvdlady.com/dvd/the-genesis-children-1972-starring-v incent-child-on-dvd/[/font-family]
--
Under current US federal law, and most state laws, the appearance in a film or picture of ONE underage penis or vagina is enough to declare it child pornography. It does not matter if the penis is crystal clear or not, if fairly clear it is (legally) porn if the penis is attached to someone under eighteen. Even if the penis or vagin is to the far right, far left, top or bottom of the frame, it is porn. Some prosecutors have enen prosecuted drawings as child porn, if they are at all realistic. This is part of an often-existing US mentality that says anything which MIGHT be remotely related to something sexual is evil and illegal.
The US quite often needs a huge infusion of common sense. But the laws are rarely written from a common sense view. As one author who goes by the name Etienne wrote,
"... you'll run into more than a few judges, who go absolutely by the book, and have zero tolerance for anything that deviates from what they deem to be the norm. And as you probably know, zero tolerance usually means zero common sense..." ~ Fictional character Dr. Tom Foster, in "Buzz Bets Badly, But Begets Bliss."
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